Diamond in the Ruff
by NightWrighter511
Summary: Max Martinez is also known as Max Ride. International superstar. She moves to a small town for a normal life. There she meets friends and enemies. Will her secret be revealed? Full summary inside. Can't fit it all here!
1. Chapter 1

Max Martines goes by another name: Max Ride, international superstar. But life as a superstar isn't always easy. For two years Max has travled around the world with only her mom as a friend. Now she's seventeen and in her senior year of high school and she wants to try a normal life. Max and her mom move to Navajo Arizona, a small town in the middle of no where, where they hope nobody will recognize Max. But going to school after two years can be hard. Max makes friends and enemies along the way. But when her secret is revealed will she be able to keep those friends? There will be FAX! Rated T because of language usage FAX later on.

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR. However, if JP would like to will it to me, then by all means **

Chapter 1

I stared at the mirror as I carefully tucked every last strand of blond hair under my chocolate brown wig. Not a single hair could be missed. Nobody could figure out the person masked by the wig. My radio clock blared in the background and I sang to the song, my voice hitting every last note.

**(A/N: Orianthi: Shut Up and Kiss Me)**

_Cuz it's a love (love)-hate (hate) relationship__  
__You say you (you) can (can) handle it__  
__But there's no way to stop this now__  
__So shut up and kiss me___

_Kick (kick), scream (scream) call it quits__  
__But your just so freakin' full of it__  
__Cuz it's too late, to shut your mouth__  
__Shut up and kiss me_

"And that was the number one hit by worldwide superstar Max Ride, Shut Up and Kiss Me, on WJXZ Arizona Live at seven." The announcer droned on about Max Ride's tour being postponed until further notice.

"Max!" Mom called from downstairs. "Hurry up! It's time for school!"

_School,_ the word sounds exciting shivers down my spine. I haven't been to an actual school in two years. Since I was fifteen when my singing career took off. Now I'm seventeen and, as the radio announcer put it, I was worldwide superstar Max Ride. Max Ride who everyone knew, so it was impossible to go to school. But not now. I had convinced Mom that I needed to be with kids my own age, not in homeschooling. I needed to settle down and lead a normal life.

She was cool with it. There was just one problem.

How do you lead a normal life when everyone who sees you only looks at the fame and money?

Enter wig. The wig allowed me to assume my 'normal person' persona. Maximum Martinez. That was my full name. Ride was my dad's last name; after he died I switched back to my Moms maiden name.

I grabbed my backpack full of brand new school supplies and thundered down the stairs.

"You look very nice Max." Mom smiled and handed me a bagel. I looked down at my outfit: a pink and purple layered tank top with a cut off jacket coming to my navel faded skinny jeans and converse. I felt my renaissance like earrings bump against my jaw as I nodded my head.

"Thanks Mom. None of my hairs showing is it?" I asked putting my hand up to where my brown hair laid neatly down my back in soft waves.

"Not a single blond hair, baby. You look fine. Don't worry." She smiled.

"I'm nervous," I admitted.

She surprised me by laughing.

"What?" I demanded. "Don't laugh at me."

"I'm sorry baby, but Maximum Martinez you perform in front of thousands of fans on a weekly basis but you're scared to go meet kids just like you. It's ironic, honey."

Well when she put it that way….I started laughing too. But I had to leave. I didn't want to be late. I said goodbye to my mom and slipped into the bright October sunlight.

The school, Navajo High School, was only a mile away from where I lived in a modest two story home in a uniform neighborhood. Nothing unusual about my home from the outside; it definitely didn't look like the home of a superstar. However, I had taken my time renovating the basement into a sound proof music room filled with all of my instruments.

The white sidewalks reflected the sunlight glaringly into my eyes. So much so that I didn't see the other group of kids until I was nearly level with them. There were five of them. Three boys and two girls. They looked about my age. One girl was clearly Hispanic, with brown hair and pretty brown eyes; the other had mocha skin and her hair curled down her back in delicate caramel colored tendrils…wait. Did I seriously just say that? That is so not Maximum Ride style. Anyway! They were each holding hands with tall blond guys. The Hispanic girl clutched hands with the boy with more of a reddish tint to his hair. Lastly there was a tall dark boy. His hair was black and hung slightly in his eyes, which were obsidian. His skin had a slight olive tone, and he wore all black down to the laces on his converse. He was also strikingly handsome.

Those obsidian eyes suddenly linked with mine. I realized I was staring at the group and quickly adverted my eyes, hurrying past them towards the school swarming with kids ahead of me.

* * *

Navajo High School was small, it consisted of one red brick building, two stories high, that housed a grand total of one thousand five hundred and sixty two (now three) students.

That didn't mean it was easy to navigate.

I braved the crowd and pushed my way into the building, only to pull up short, wondering which way to go for the office.

The hallways were lined with red lockers and banners hung everywhere saying "RATTLESNAKES TAKE A BITE OUT OF WESTON". The rattlesnakes were the mascot for Navajo High, I would take a fare guess that Weston was their first competitor for football season.

I started out down the main hallway looking at room numbers left and right. Shouldn't the office be in the front of the school?

After about my fourth wrong turn the hallways were emptying. I huffed in frustration twirling around, looking for somebody to ask for directions.

I didn't see anyone.

I closed my eyes and massaged my temples. I hadn't even gotten to my first class and already school was giving me a headache. I was starting to rethink wanting to come here.

"Need help?" a deep voice asked, directly behind me.

"Gah!" I gasped, jumping a foot in the air. I turned to see the same dark haired by I'd seen walking earlier, chuckling.

"I…but how….you were _not _just there." I said in a stubborn tone, glaring at him.

"I wasn't? News to me." He rolled his eyes. I was tempted to stick my tongue out at him but that would be such an immature first impression. Besides, I wouldn't make a fool out of myself for a _boy._ Geesh.

"Whatever. Where's the office?" I asked, casting a look around my surroundings.

"On the opposite side of the school." He smirked. "Your new here." It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

"You can guess that because I can't find the office? Maybe I just don't come to school enough to find out where it actually is." I proposed. He motioned for me to follow him as he started out down the hall in the direction I had come from.

"No. I haven't seen you before. Navajo is small. Everyone knows everyone." We made a left.

"Oh," I said slightly defeated. "Well, okay then." He smirked again.

Three more turns and we were standing in front of glass doors with 'OFFICE' written in red letters. Man, this school really liked red….I'm more of a blue girl myself.

The guy gestured for me to go in first. I did, the office was cooler than the hallways, and it had some classical music playing in the background.

A grey haired lady with a pink sweater and glasses was typing at a computer behind the desk. I cleared my throat but the lady didn't move.

"Excuse me," I said after a minute. She held up a finger in the universal 'wait' sign. I huffed in frustration. I heard the bell ring in the distance. Great. Late on my first day. Well, no different than my life before superstardom.

"How may I help you?" The lady finally asked. I'm going to call her Beaky, because her nose was seriously big and hooked.

"I'm new. I need my schedule."

"Name?" Beaky asked.

How many new students did this school get? "Maximum Martinez." I said quietly.

She huffed, as if wondering what my parents were thinking when they named me Maximum. Honestly, I thought they were giving me a completely badass name that I happened to love. But call me anything other than Max and your dead.

"Here," she handed me a paper clipped packet of paper. "Top page is your schedule. Have all your teachers sign the second sheet and bring it back at the final bell. Third sheet is a map. Have a nice day."

She went back to typing.

I looked at my schedule. First period was English with Mr. Carn. Now, where the hell was room 209?

* * *

**Sooooo...what do you think? Love it? Hate it? Need more to know what you think? Please let me know! Its my first fanfiction so don't be mean! Read and Review!**

**Peace! **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Max and the flock (except for Angle) are in their senior year of high school. I don't think I mentioned that before. My bad!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I am not rich, out of school, and living my dream job. Therefore: me no owny! **

Chapter 2

I pulled open the door to room 209 only ten minutes after I left the front office. Turns out the classrooms start with the lower numbered classrooms on the top floor for some stupid reason.

Every head in the classroom turned to look at me as I walked up to the teacher, where he'd stopped teaching in front of the class. He was an old man with a big gut and a comb over .

Ewww.

I handed him my papers and he nodded, signing the second sheet and turning to the class.

"Class, this is our new student Maximum Martinez. Would you like to say a few words about yourself?"

I automatically hated this guy.

"Not really." I said shortly, taking my papers back.

Mr. Carn blinked a few times, muttered something about 'ungrateful younger generations' and said "Then you can go take a seat next to Nicholas over there." He pointed to a seat next to…oh. Oh _no._ Great. Just great. My life is _amazing._

I went and sat next to the dark haired kid that had shown me to the office.

He smirked at me. "See you found your way around okay." He inclined his head.

"I think the builders of this school were drunk, why did they start with the lowest numbers _on top?_" I grumbled.

He shrugged. Man of many words, he was.

I pulled out a notebook and started copying notes on the board.

Welcome to school.

After the initial getting the feel of the room organization, I managed to find my second period class, chemistry, and slip in just before the bell rang.

I handed the teacher, Ms. Kelly, my papers and she sent me to sit in the only available seat, next to a strawberry blond dude with pale blue eyes.

I vaguely wondered why everyone was giving me sympathetic eyes. ..

"Howdy partner!" the guy said with a fake southern twang. "I'm Jeff, but call me Iggy."

"Um, _why_?" I asked.

He opened his mouth, then closed it and shrugged. "Actually, I don't know. I've just been called that forever. What's your name?"

"Max," I said. I liked this kid already. He seemed weird, but himself, and that's what so hard to come by in my profession. He reminded me of why I wanted to come to school in disguise.

He shook my hand. "Nice to meet you Maxie."

"Max." I said clearly. "Just Max."

"Whatever you say…Maxie." I punched him lightly in the arm. Well, I thought I punched him lightly. He fell off his stool.

"Iggy!" Ms. Kelly said in exasperation, "Stop fooling around and pay attention. I don't want a repeat of our last lab."

"Yes ma'am!" he saluted.

"Um, what happened last lab?" I asked quietly, wondering once again about those sympathetic looks and why he was the only person without a partner.

He looked at me…actually he looked about two inches to the right of me and said "I blew up the lab."

"Oh," I said faintly.

He chuckled. "It was awesome. Though, I burnt my last partners eyebrows off, I'd stay away if you value yours."

"Good to know." I smiled.

"So, what brings you to our little town?" he asks quietly as the teacher goes on about the lab we're supposed to do.

"Just a change of scenery. A quiet place." I hedged.

"Well then you've come to the right place. For quiet that is. I wouldn't know about the scenery."

That's when I looked at his textbook and realized that it was in brail. "Oh," I gasped quietly. "Your blind."

"Thank you Captain Obvious!" He smiled.

"You're welcome Lieutenant Sarcasm!" I replied. **(A/N: I can't take credit for this awesome line, I read it in another FanFic. But I thought it was good.) **

Iggy chuckled. "I like you Max." he said. "You should sit with me and my friends at lunch."

I smiled. I was doing what I'd thought was impossible since my first album went double platinum. I was making friends.

**A/N: Well? What do you think? Is it worth it? Please R&R! **

**Peace!**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Still don't own MR **

Lunch. My favorite class of the day! I raced to the overcrowded lunchroom and slipped into the lunch line. Once I came out with my cheeseburger, fries, and a coke, I looked around for a place to sit.

There were cliques at this school. I wrinkled my nose in disgust as I located the jocks and bimbos table. They really weren't hard to find with their obnoxious laughter. I skipped over them and continued looking.

Someone bumped into me from behind. I looked and saw that it was the mocha skinned girl that I saw on my way to school. "Oh! Sorry! I didn't see you there, of course I really wasn't paying attention because I was thinking about shopping later today, I can't wait! Anyway I should have been paying more attention, but…oh! You're the new girl! Iggy and Fang said they'd met you! You should totally sit with us!" I blinked rapidly at the girl. She had said all of that _in one breath._

"Sorry. That's Nudge for ya! We call her the Nudge Channel for a reason. Everyone gets that very same look on their faces after they hear her for the first time. Hi, I'm Ella." The Hispanic girl from this morning said, walking up to me and Nudge.

"Hi, I'm Max." I said, still trying to process all of what Nudge had said. Iggy. I recognized that name, but who in the Sam Heck was _Fang._ Oh well. They offered me a place to sit and I wasn't about to pass that up.

"Hi Max." Ella said. "Come on, we sit over here." She led me through the maze of cafeteria tables to a table by the window in back. There sat the entire group I'd seen walking to school this morning, including Nicholas. I rolled my eyes. I couldn't seem to stay away from him.

"Everyone, this is Max." Nudge said, sitting next to another blond haired boy with electric blue eyes. He smiled at me and nodded. "Max, this is Gazzy, you really don't wanna know why, you already know Fang there," she pointed to Nicholas. I raised an eyebrow at him but he just shrugged and went on eating his lunch. "and Iggy. And you just met me and Ella so that's everyone." Nudge said brightly. Ella slid into the seat next to Iggy and he slipped his arm around her waist.

I sat down in the remaining seat between Ella and Fang/Nicholas.

"You just seem to be everywhere today." I said to him. He half smiled but said nothing. "A real talker too, I mean God! Do you ever shut up?" his smile grew slightly.

"Don't mind Fang." Iggy said. "He's just weird like that. See, something went wrong in his and Nudges family, so I say, cause, he doesn't talk and she doesn't shut up!" he crackled. Nudge stopped in the middle of whatever she was saying and stuck her tongue at Iggy, a lost gesture, before returning to her conversation with Gazzy.

"You guys are related?" I asked skeptically.

"My mom adopted Nudge when she was a baby." He said helpfully.

"Oh, that's nice. I don't have any siblings." I frowned slightly. Maybe it'd be easier traveling so much if I had a sibling to talk too. Don't get me wrong, I love the band, but we travel separately now and they have friends of their own. I may be the figure head/lead singer/popular one, whatever, but they had it better as far as I was concerned.

Being famous, surrounded by millions of fans, could be incredibly lonely. People you talk to are either trying to get their fifteen minutes of fame by association, or are trying to get you to promote their music. They see you as fame and money, not a person. To them, Maximum Martinez was just a name, not a person behind the idol. That's why I was in this school now. I wanted people to see the real me. My personality. My stubborn, sarcastic, annoying, caring, funny, fun loving, adventurous self.

"Well, you can take Nudge some time." Fang offered.

"Hey!" Nudge objected, giving him a sour face. Then she got a contemplating look on her face. "Actually, yeah, Max, you can have me any time. I'd love to take you shopping! I mean, you're so pretty and I bet I could dress you in just about anything and you could pull it off. I can't. Sadly. Some colors don't work for me. Like yellow. Ugh, yellow, is not good for my complexion. You though, you could wear anything. I wish I could. I envy you. I mean mughp phafe-"

"Thank you Gazzy." Ella said, shaking her head as Gazzy slowly peeled his hand away from Nudges motor mouth. Then she looked at me and laughed. They all did. I'm sure it was because of the horrified expression on my face. I mean, me, Maximum Martinez, _shopping. _I shuddered. I _hate _shopping. And trust me, it hates me too.

"No shopping." I said seriously. "I don't do shopping."

"A girl that doesn't shop, go figure." Fang muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I raised one eyebrow, ignoring Nudges outburst of "Oh how did you _do _that. So cool!" Then she proceeded to try and raise just one eyebrow.

"Just that that's not normal. Most girls like shopping."

"Yeah well, _Fang_, I'm not most girls. Trust me."

**A/N: If you have any questions, let me know! Read and Review!**

**Peace! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: JP give me a buzz if you feel like giving me the rights to MR**

Chapter 4

"Hi honey how was your day?" Mom asked me as I walked into the house. I followed the smell of chocolate chip cookies into the kitchen and found her pulling a tray out of the oven. It was so odd. So _normal. _Not what I was used to anymore.

"Good." I said snatching a cookie off the tray and burned my mouth as I stuffed it down my throat. But my moan was of pleasure, not pain. "Yummy!"

"Here, if you destroy your throat Mackie will kill you." She said handing me a glass of cold milk. Mackie, my manager. The guy who had gotten my singing career off the ground. "Speaking of Mackie, he's scheduled time at a recording studio in Phoenix three weeks from Wednesday. You'll have to leave school early to get there." She finished putting the cookies onto the cooling rack. "Oh! And do not forget you have a concert in Phoenix, not this Friday, but the next."

"I won't forget Mom." I said, grabbing another cookie.

"Good. Now, we have business out of the way. Tell me all about your school day." She got this goofy grin on her face and sat down across the table from me. My mom was my best friend. She was a vet, but with all of the touring we had done the past two years, she'd put her career on the back burner. Part of the reason we'd picked Navajo as our new home was because they had a great position available in their vet clinic. She seemed happier today too, I knew she'd had a good first day back at work.

"School was…great." I smiled, running through my day in my head. "I got lost a lot, but other than that. I made some new friends. My chemistry partner is blind. I know, weird right? But he's good, he knows what he's doing. I sat with him and a bunch of other great kids at lunch."

"That's great honey! You should have them over some time." She smiled. She really did seem happy. I think that moving to Navajo was the best decision we could have made.

…

The rest of the week went more or less the same way. I sat with Fang in first period, Iggy in second, and everyone else at lunch. It also turned out that I had both Ella and Nudge in my choir class (something I wasn't completely happy about taking because I didn't want anyone recognizing my voice, but I had needed a fine arts credit.) and I had Gazzy in my gym class with Fang too. In fact, there was only one thing that had changed compared to the first day.

Her name was Lissa.

_Flashback:_

"_All I'm saying is that it wouldn't kill you to take grammar lessons if you are embarrassed to talk. I mean, that must be your only excuse. I could teach you if you want." I teased Fang. It was my third day of school and I don't think I'd heard him say more than ten words in a single day. _

"_We don't all need to be taking lessons from Nudge, which, may I add, you _are._" He smirked._

_I huffed. "I am _not_!" I quickly slammed my locker. He just continued to smirk at me. "Go away," I ordered. He just chuckled, held his hands up in mock surrender, and headed down the hall to Iggy's locker._

"_I can't believe you are trying to steal my man." A voice came from behind me. _

"_Excuse me?" I demanded whirling around to see a small red head girl in revealing clothes and three inch heels, with her hands on her hips glaring at me. Her glare was nothing compared to what I could do, and it was kind of made more pathetic by the splatter of freckles across her face that looked like blood splatter. Actually, she reminded me of Raggedy Anne or Pippy Long Stocking. "I'm not taking any guy. Who are you anyway?" _

"_I'm Lissa." She said all snarky. Suddenly I recognized her from the jocks and bimbos table my first day. She was sort of the head honcho. Greaaaat. (Please note the sarcasm). "And yes you are. You're trying to steal my Fangy."_

"Fangy?_" That did it. I doubled over laughing until I had stitches in my side and tears running down my face. _

"_It's not funny!" Lissa stomped her foot, which only made me laugh harder. "He's my man and you. Cant. Have. Him." She snarled. _

_It kind of had the effect of a bunny snarling at you. Surprising, but ineffective. _

_Now, my snarling was like a rabid wolverine. She learned this the hard way. I glared at her, my death glare. _

_She backed up. "First of all," I hissed, "nobody tells me what I can and can't do with my life. Second of all, Fang has never said a word about you, so I think you are delusional." _

_That's when she smacked me. This little….little slut just slapped me. Big mistake. That's when I punched her. Hard. I was feeling more like myself right now than I had in years. _

"_Back off bitch." I told her, and stormed down the hall without another word, the students parting for me like the Red Sea._

_End Flashback_

I didn't actually get in trouble for punching Lissa. It had been after school hours and nobody had claimed they were witnesses. When I asked my friends they had said that Lissa may be popular but nobody actually likes her, therefore they must have loved seeing her get punched as much as they had.

I asked Fang about Lissa too. He said she was basically his stalker. She'd been after him since eighth grade, and he'd constantly rejected her.

That made me feel happy for some reason.

Friday at lunch Nudge broke from her usual rants about fashion and trends to tell me that she was having her usual Friday night sleepover and it was mandatory that I came.

"But, I don't have any clothes with me." I said. I wanted to sleep over her house, like a normal teenager, but I was worried. What if my wig came off while I slept? What if they realized who I was?

"No problem." Nudge smiled. "I'll drive you to your house and you can pick up some clothes."

I bit my lip. I really, really, _really, _wanted to go, but…what about my secret. I struggled in my mind for a few seconds, which felt like hours, before I slowly nodded, my craving for a normal life finally winning out. "Alright."

…

"It's this one." I told Nudge from the passenger seat of her Tahoe. She carefully turned into my driveway and parked.

"We're finally at your elusive house!" Nudge burst. "You've never mentioned where you live or anything about us coming over so I was beginning to wonder if you even have a house! But here we are! And your house is nice and mumph phaw—" I slapped my hand over her mouth.

"Turn off the Nudge Channel." I sighed. "You're giving me an ulcer." I felt her smile under my hand. I jumped out of the car and headed towards my house. I was at the front door before I realized that nobody was behind me. I looked back and saw all of my friends still sitting in the Tahoe.

"Are you coming?" I called. They seemed to jump before pouring out of the car and following me. I yanked open the door and led them into my house.

"Max? Is that you?" Mom called. Of course it was me, who else was it going to be. "Oh, of course it's you, nobody else comes here." It's scary how in sync we are. "I got a call from Mackie today, he wanted to make sure—"

"I brought friends!" I yelled over her, my heart racing as my secret was almost blown _right then._

Mom cut off, then rushed to the hallway. "Oh! How lovely!" she caught my eye for a second before rushing to shake hands with my friends.

"Mom this is Nudge, Ella, Iggy, Gazzy, and Fang." I said as she shook each of their hands. "Guys this is my mom." There was a chorus of hellos.

Mom was all smiles. I could practically see the gears turning in her head. "Um, Nudge invited me for a sleepover so I came to get some clothes." I said quietly.

"Well that sounds like fun! And of course, go get a bag ready! Next time though, you should really invite _them _over."

I blushed lightly and nodded, then motioned for everyone to follow me to my room.

"Oh wow! I love your room!" Nudge gushed as I opened my door. I have to admit my room is pretty fricken awesome. The walls were painted a light blue and splattered with neon colors. My bedspread was a solid blue and rested queen sized in the middle of the wall between two windows that let as much light in as I could get. I hated feeling closed in; I was claustrophobic, which isn't always easy when hundreds of thousands of fans are surrounding you.

I had old vinyl records bordering the top of my walls. It was an overall cool affect. I loved it. Nudge headed over to my closet and shrieked.

"What is this? Is this everything? Or do you have, like, another room full of clothes? Please say you have more because this is…is…a disgrace!"

"Hey! Don't diss my clothes," I protested, grabbing a bag and stuffing the essentials into it. "They are perfectly alright." I wasn't going to mention that I did in fact, have another room full of clothes in the basement connected to the music room, purposefully full of my Max Ride gear.

"Oh! Make sure you bring your bathing suit! Just in case we go swimming." Nudge called.

"I don't have a bathing suit." I told her as I threw some pajamas into my bag.

The stream of conversation that had been going on in my room stopped immediately. I looked at Fang, who was looking at Nudge. Everyone was looking at Nudge.

Her eye was twitching.

"You….don't…have…a bathing suit?" she acted as if the thought absolutely appalled her….actually, this was Nudge, I should probably be hiding in a bunker after that confession.

I slowly backed towards the door my hand reaching out for the knob. "Well, not exactly…."

"Oh my god! Where have you grown up? A cave? Tomorrow we are so going shopping! Its October so technically it's the end of swimsuit season so we could find some really good prices and all, but you are getting at least three bathing suits. I mean, how can you be my friend without one? The thought is just…just…oh my god! One of those bathing suits is going to be pink. For tonight, you can borrow one of mine. I'd drag you to the mall right now, but our sleepovers are on a tight schedule."

I didn't catch half of what Nudge said. The only words I heard were_ shopping _and _pink._ Those were two very bad words in my personal dictionary. Purple I could deal with. Blue, hell I loved it. But _pink_ it's so…_girly. _I shuddered just thinking about it. As for shopping. Well, all of those girls at the mall scoping out guys, all the guys at the mall, waiting to be scoped…who wouldn't love it?

It was a fricken nightmare.

I looked at Fang and gave him a look that said: _get me out of this!_

He returned with a slightly sympathetic look that meant: _I can't. This is _Nudge_ we're talking about._

_Well hell! _

**A/N: You know the drill: R&R**

**Peace! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned MR**

Chapter 5

"Oh wow, Nudge, Fang, your house is beautiful." I said, slightly awed that my friends could live in this, for lack of a better word, mansion, and still be completely levelheaded and awesome and not some stuck up prick.

"Thanks," Nudge smiled. "Daddy's a cardiac surgeon and Mom's an interior designer. They went a little overboard with the house."

I smiled at her and Iggy said "Well I for one, think it looks _fabulous._"

"Hate to break it to you Ig, but your blind." Fang said strait faced.

"What? This is an injustice! I thought that the sun just went to bed early!" Iggy monologue theatrically.

I snickered and Gazzy added "You might want to get your head checked out Ig, maybe that last explosion in chemistry jumbled your brain if you're imagining things."

"Imagining things? Wait, do you mean to tell me that your house _isn't _bright pink Nudge?" I glanced at Ella, questioning her sanity to put up with this crazy loon that she called a boyfriend, but she just laughed and smiled adoringly at Iggy. I really wished he could see how she looked at him. Meanwhile I was looking at the very _white _house at the end of the driveway.

"I wish," She sighed, equally as theatrically, pulling her Tahoe up to the front of the house and parking it.

We gathered our things and headed to through the big mahogany double doors into the house.

Now, to make things clear, I had been to celebrity houses before, and yes, they could be bigger and more fancy than this house, but I never saw the point in buying one for myself and my mom if we could live comfortably in a normal sized house.

Nudges and Fangs house opened up into a parlor with a grand staircase directly across from the front door. To the left the room opened up into a huge sitting area. Past that there was a hallway that Nudge informed me lead to the kitchen and garage. To the right was a huge home theater, complete with a flat screen the size of the wall itself and movie theater seats, couches, and recliners.

The moment we shut the door two small yappy dogs came tumbling down the stairs. They stopped at my feet and jumped as high as my knees.

"Max, these are Lazy and Daisy." Nudge introduced us.

"_Lazy and Daisy?" _I scoffed.

"Well, when we got them from the pound their names were Prissy and Missy."

"Enough said." I said stoically.

"You can just drop your stuff in the theater Max. We'll watch movies and order dinner first. Then we'll go upstairs later. No use going up and down stairs more than necessary."

I nodded agreeably and dropped my bags by the theater door with the others.

"So," Nudge clapped her hands together and looked at us expectantly. "Pizza?" she asked.

"Yes!" echoed around the room as we all nodded vigorously.

Nudge whipped out her cell phone and hit speed dial. Someone obviously picked up because she said "Yes I'd like to place an order for delivery. Yeah, yup. Twenty Four Kingston Circle. Uhuh. Um, let me have two pepperoni, one meat lovers and…Max what do you like?" she asked holding the phone away from her ear.

"Veggie." I answered. Everyone looked at me like I was an alien.

"_Why?_"

Because that's all I was allowed to order when Chrissie, my dietitian, allowed me to splurge on the junk food I so desperately loved. I really hadn't been sticking to her diet lately.

"It's better than you'd think." I assured her. After two years of only veggies as a topping it did start to appeal to you. I loved it now. That didn't mean I didn't find it weird though.

"Okay?" She made it sound like a question as she finished ordering. "Twenty minutes." She informed us heading towards the home theater where Iggy and Gazzy were already looking through movies.

"What movies do you like Max?"

"Cheesy adventures." I answered automatically.

I found myself being stared at, _yet again_! How many times in one day would they do this to me? It was getting uncomfortable.

"I'm in love." Iggy said, putting a hand to his forehead. Ella slapped him on the side of the head. "With you, of course, babe." He said somberly.

I smirked.

"Okay, so under the category of cheesy adventures we have: the Jurassic Parks, the Mummies, the Indiana Jones, and the Scorpion King One and Two." Gazzy listed.

"The Mummies." I said firmly. They were my absolute favorites. I loved the character Jonathan. (**A/N I really do love all those cheesy adventures. They are the best!) **

We had just gotten to the part where Eave was trying to get to Hamenaptra with help of an imprisoned Rick, when the doorbell rang. Fang and Nudge went to get it. Their reentrance was preceded by the amazing smell of pizza.

This night was just getting better and better.

…..

The credits for the third Mummy movie rolled onto the screen as I looked around to my friends. Nudge and Gazzy were curled up on a sofa, sleeping. Iggy was leaning against another sofa that Ella was passed out on. Ella's hand rested on his shoulder.

Fang was still awake and watching me from his recliner. Suddenly I was self conscious about being sprawled out on the last sofa. I don't know _why _I should be self conscious, but under his scrutinizing stare I was.

"Should we wake them up?" I whispered.

Fang nodded.

They groped and groaned about being waken up at three in the morning, but traipsed upstairs. Nudge lead us to a door at the end of the second floor hallway.

Nudges bedroom was a number of colors. Each wall was painted a different color: pink, blue, green, purple. And it was huge. She had a platform with a multitude of instruments on it as well as microphones by a window. There were two other doors. One led to her walk in closet the other, she informed me, led to a bathroom she said I could change in.

But it wasn't the size or the color of the room that caught my eye. It was the posters.

Dozens of Max Ride posters covered her walls. There were pictures of me posing for photo shoots, album covers, concert pictures, the works.

Oh, I'd never spared a thought to the fact that my new friends might have been my fans first.

Awkward.

"You, ahem, like Max Ride?" I tried to ask calmly but I could hear the waver in my voice.

Nudge didn't notice. "Yeah! We all are! Her music is _the best. _She sings about true stuff, _and _about dreams and stuff. She's my inspiration! I wish I could sing as well as her, but of course, if I could than maybe our band could go further. Oh! Do you like Max Ride, Max? Oh, haha, you have the same name as her. What a coincidence."

I blinked.

_Shit._

"Um, she's okay." I felt like crap for lying to her but I had no other alternatives. _Well, yes you do_, one part of me whispered. _You could tell them who you really are_.

Bullcrap I could. I want to be liked for me, not my money.

So I covered.

"You have a band?"

She did a face palm.

"I can't believe we forgot to tell you! Yeah," She nodded vigorously. "We," She gestured to everyone else in the room, "started a band a while back. Were called 'The Flock.' We're good, just need to appeal to the right record label. Wouldn't it be so cool to be famous? Fans, money, doing what you love?"

_No privacy, fake friends, expectations…_

I nodded and smiled. Only Fang seemed to see through that fake smile, but I ignored him. "What do you each play?" I gestured to the instruments.

"Well, I sing backup and play piano and keyboards." Nudge said. "Ella also sings backup and plays the violin. Iggy's our drummer, Gazzy's our basest, and Fang is lead vocal and electric guitar."

Wow. I didn't know I made friends with such talented people.

"Do I get to hear a song?" I asked.

"Sure!" Ella and Nudge said happily. The boys just nodded.

**(Fallin' Apart by The All American Rejects) **

Nudge started on the piano then everyone came in.

_Can somebody save me?__  
__Cus I'm thinking maybe__  
__That you can take me piece by piece__  
__Then you got your reasons__  
__But I didn't need them__  
__And either way I'm on my knees yeah__  
__You knew when I was wrong__  
__You say that I'm deranged__  
__I can see that you're uneasy and its not gonna change__  
__And no matter how far___

_Wherever you go I'm crawlin__  
__Either way you're breaking my heart__  
__Wherever you go I'm crawlin__  
__Even when we're falling__  
__Even when we're falling apart_

Pause for more instrumental. Iggy started snapping before coming in with drums again.__

_You say that you're leavin__  
__Say that you don't need him__  
__And ill I do is give and you just take__  
__I guess that I knew it__  
__I can't make it through it__  
__But I'm gonna try this anyway___

_You knew when I was wrong__  
__You knew that I'm deranged__  
__I can see that you're uneasy and its not gonna change__  
__And no matter how far__  
__Wherever you_

__The girls started 'ahhh'ing in the background.

___Wherever you go I'm callin__  
__Even when you're breaking my heart__  
__Wherever you go I'm crawlin__  
__Even when we're falling__  
__Even when we're falling apart__  
__Yeah looks like were fallin apart_

Little guitar solo for Fang.

___Anyone got it where the roses sleep__  
__I can make you anything you wanna be__  
__When my bodies close to me__  
__I can give you anything you'd ever need___

_When I fall to the floor__  
__Cuz I can't feel anymore__  
__You can have my heart girl__  
__You don't have to steal anymore__  
__When I look to the stars__  
__Wherever you are___

_Yeah wherever you are__  
__Wherever you go I'm callin__  
__Even when you're breakin my heart__  
__Wherever you go I'm crawlin__  
__Even when we're fallin__  
__Even when we're fallin apart___

_Wherever you go I'm crawlin__  
__Wherever you go I'm crawlin__  
__Wherever you go I'm crawlin__  
__Even when we're fallin__  
__Even when we're fallin apart__  
__Yeah I guess we're fallin apart__  
__Yeah it looks like were fallin apart__  
__Yeah I guess I'm fallin apart__  
_

**A/N: R&R**

**Peace! **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: *Sigh* I'm still not rich, therefore I must not have a series out for sale with millions of avid readers.**

Oh my lanta. 'The Flock' was the real deal.

I stared at my friends who I had no idea were so talented until just now. They were better than half the bands that actually got recording deals.

And _Fang! _Who knew he had such an amazing voice.

"Wow," I said quietly. "That was….wow." I am such a quick wit with words aren't I?

The Flock (that's what I was going to call them from now on) smiled at me. Well, everyone except Fang, he just gave an almost indecipherable twitch of his lips.

"And Fang," I said staring straight at him now, "How is it possible that I don't hear ten words from you in a given day but you sing like _that?_" Now he did smile. A full smile. With teeth. The first one I'd ever seen him give. _And it was at me._ The smile seemed to brighten the entire room. It was gone too quickly.

He shrugged.

Back to square one.

Sigh.

"Did you really like us?" Nudge burst. "I mean, our parents say we're good but, come on, they are our parents, they have to say that. We've played at some café's and small bars but you can never get a definite answer from them and I want your hon—"

Ella slapped her hand over Nudges mouth. I silently thanked her.

"You guys are honestly amazing. Better than a number of bands with recording labels." This was my honest opinion as someone who's been through the recording labels before.

"Aww thanks Maxie!" Iggy crowed. I sent him a death glare, and then sighed.

"I am giving you a death glare right now Iggy." I informed him. Gazzy snorted and Fang smirked.

"Well, Miss Martinez I, for one am offended by your response to my show of friendly emotions…." The monologue continued into the night.

…

"Ells, you've got to help me." I begged. "Tell her she's being unreasonable."

"No can do Max, this is Nudge we're talking about, you aren't getting out of this." She replied through the bathroom door. I groaned and inspected my image in the mirror. Nudge had shoved me into a small _bikini. _And by small, I mean, barley covering me and my parts! It was black (which normally would be fine) and had the word VOLCOM split onto the two separate sides of the top. It tied in the back, and was way to revealing for my style.

"Come out Max! We want to go swimming! Don't worry, I know the guys will think your hot!" I felt my face heat up. The _guys._ It was embarrassing enough to see myself in this but the guys? _Fang? _My breathing hitched. I quickly threw my shirt and sleeping shorts over the bathing suit and pulled my 'hair' up into a pony tail. My wig could get wet, and I'd secured it to my head with pins so it wouldn't fall off. I was still cautious though.

I slipped out of the bathroom. Nudge and Ella groaned.

"Max, you cannot wear that into the pool." Nudge said firmly. I think that was the shortest sentence I'd ever heard her say.

Nudge was wearing a strapless blue, white, and orange tie-dye two piece, and Ella was wearing a white floral bikini that crisscrossed in the back. They looked great. I'm sure I was just embarrassing myself.

"Then give me something less revealing." I countered.

"Nope." She popped the 'p'.

"Then no dice."

I grabbed a towel and slipped out of her room. The guys were already outside by the pool. Gazzy had on blue swim trunks and his hair was wet. He shook his head and his hair stood up in little spikes. Iggy was wearing green swim trunks with some weird design on them. I came out as he did a cannonball.

Fang was wearing black swim trunks (really I didn't expect anything different by now) and was sitting on a side chair, eyes closed. He didn't have a shirt on and I slowly inspected him. His skin was an olive tone and he had a six pack. His muscles were subtle so you didn't always notice them, but without his shirt I could see the rock hard muscles wind their way up his arms. He was hot. I went and sat by him.

"Not going in?" He asked quietly. His eyes were still closed.

"Nope." I popped the 'p'.

"Why not?" he looked at me for the answer.

"Nudge and Ella got to me. I am _not _taking this off." I gestured to my sleep clothes.

He cracked a smile. "Nudge gets carried away. But it can't be that bad."

I sighed. "No. Just not my style." I admitted.

He nodded; the girls came out and dropped their towels on a nearby chair. Nudge glared at me before they went to join their boyfriends in the pool.

"Now she hates me." I groaned, dropping my head into my hands.

"She'll get over it. Just think, she has shopping with you to look forward to." I could hear the smirk in his voice. I groaned louder and pretended to hit my head muttering "Why, Why, Why."

He chuckled. I liked Fang's chuckle. It was deep throated, homey, sexy. Wait. Did I just say that? Never mind. Ignore my delusional ranting. Maybe I was hitting my head harder than I thought.

"Hey you guys! Come in!" Gazzy called before he was dunked under the water by Iggy.

"Do you want to now?" Fang asked. I bit my lip. I did want to go hang out with my friends, to have fun, but that didn't mean I was comfortable with what I was wearing. I'd never worn something so…girly in public before. "It'll be fine. I'm sure you look great." He raised an eyebrow and I blushed slightly. Fang just complimented me, I thought hazily. He was also just trying to be nice, a voice in my head said, reproached at my reaction.

I sighed and nodded, slipping off my sleep clothes before I could think better of it. I caught everyone looking at me. Except Iggy, he was looking a foot to my right. He was good, but not perfect.

"What?" I mumbled, my face heating up. "That bad?"

"No, oh no! Max! You look sexy!" Nudge yelled and Ella nodded vigorously. I blushed harder and slipped into the pool. Then she did something I wished she didn't. "Doesn't she Fang?" Nudge continued.

I felt my face go tomato red and I looked at Fang. He looked slightly uncomfortable. I think that was his version of blushing tomato red too.

"Um, yeah. Sure." He said quietly. Nudge shrieked again and I felt warm inside.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

**A/N: Here comes some FAX! Finally! **

**Disclaimer: Seriously. This thing is dumb. If I wasn't JP last chapter, how am I him now? **

"Max, Max, Max!" Nudge shrieked at school on Thursday. She ran down the hallway and plowed into me. I dropped my books. Fang handed them to me and I turned back to Nudge.

"Did you have coffee this morning?" I demanded.

"Maybe…but that's not the point! My mom came home last night and she was all 'I'm sorry we don't have quality time let me make it up to you' and guess what she handed me? Tickets. Six tickets to see Max Ride in concert, this Saturday. Can you believe it? So will you come?" I felt my face pale. The Flock was coming to my concert. What if they recognized me? What if I did something stupid that makes them realize I am me. At her sleepover Friday Nudge had mentioned that I'd look good as a blond. I don't think she'd put two and two together but that was definitely too close for comfort.

"I, uh, I can't go. I'm going to visit my cousin that weekend. I leave Friday after school."

"Oh no!" she looked so dismayed. I wished I could tell them the truth but I'd only known them for a little over a week, even though I felt like I'd known them all my life. I wanted them to get used to me.

"Sorry. You should take someone else. Have fun though."

"Well, we can take Angel." Ella put in.

"Who?" I asked.

"Nudges and Fangs little sister. She's a huge Max Ride fan. More so than Nudge maybe. She's seven."

I turned to them. "I didn't know you had a sister." I said accusingly.

"You never asked." Fang shrugged.

"Where was she Friday?"

"At a friend's house." Nudge shrugged. "So you seriously can't go? You can't reschedule? I mean, how often is it that Max Ride comes to Arizona? When will you get an opportunity like this again?"

Uh, next time I have a concert.

"Sorry." Was all I said. Nudge looked all put out but she nodded.

The bell rang and we went to class.

…..

"So, we need to go shopping for dresses soon. Homecoming is, like, soon, we aren't going to be in town this weekend, and next weekend is homecoming so we have to go shopping soon." Ella informed me.

"I don't know if I'm going." I said.

"What? Why?" Nudge gasped.

"Because It'd be weird. I don't have a date." I admitted.

"So? There's still two weeks. You'll get a date by then. Besides, you should go with Fang anyway." I felt my face heat tomato red, I quickly scanned our choir class to make sure nobody heard that last comment. They were too busy doing what we were supposed to be doing: reviewing the sheet music.

"W-why would you say that?" I demanded.

"Because you guys are perfect for each other and Fangs, like, is already in love with you." Ella said matter of factly.

"He is not!" I stifled a shriek.

"Is too."

"Not."

"Too."

"Not."

"Too to infinity." Ella stuck her tongue out at me.

"Damn," I muttered.

They laughed.

"But seriously," I protested, "Fang isn't in love with me. He barley talks to me."

"He barley talks to _anyone. _But the way he looks at you? Boy has had it hard since the first day he met you." I blushed deeper. Could they be right? I mean, he did give me those smiles I didn't see him giving anyone else. The thought warmed me. I don't know when I started having feelings for Fang, but at the mention that he might have them for me? It was all I could think about.

…..

I was walking to my locker at the end of the day when I saw the most disgusting/hysterical scene.

Fang was leaning up against my locker (waiting for me like usual) except he wasn't alone. Lissa was pressing herself up against him, fluttering her eyes in what she thought was a seductive manner but it just looked like she had a twitch.

She looked like she was about two seconds away from attempting a blow job. Fang looked disgusted. I laughed and he looked at me. His eyes said: _what the hell are you waiting for? Get her off me._

I sighed and gave him a look that said: _if I must._

This was going to be fun.

"Excuse me skank your in my way." I said pushing her away from Fang.

She stifled a shriek as she stumbled away. "What the hell bitch?" she snarled (again it was like a bunny snarling) regaining her balance.

"I'm saving you the embarrassment of hitting on a taken guy."

"_Taken?_"

Fang looked mildly surprised but I gave him a look that said: _go with it._

I loved our ability to silently communicate. He gave me a small nod, and I continued.

"Yes, taken." I gave her a knowing smile.

This time she did shriek. "You stole my Fangy?"

I snorted at 'Fangy'.

"You can't steal what's not yours." I smiled.

"I don't believe you." She said, her face paling.

I sighed. "Fine. I'll convince you." I smirked at her before turning around wrapping my arms around Fang. _Go with it._ I told him.

Then I kissed him.

I faintly heard Lissa shriek in rage but I was too caught up in Fangs lips. Warm, sweet pressure against my own lips. I sighed and pulled away.

Fang looked slightly shocked.

I turned back to Lissa.

"Don't embarrass yourself any more than you already have." I said, drawing length with her. Her eyes only reached my chin, and she was in heels. I was a perfectly good height at five nine.

What she did next surprised even me.

She shoved me. Now, I thought I'd already taught her a lesson last time she'd touched me. I guess not.

I shoved her back. "Don't touch me."

"Why? Are you afraid I might rub off on you?" she taunted.

"Of course I am. God only knows what you've picked up from the football team." I sneered. The hallway around me erupted in laughter.

She blushed red and said "Well at least I'm getting some."

"Along with every disease in the books." This girl was disgusting. She took a swing at me. I grabbed her fist and spun her around, holding her hand behind her back. She whimpered in pain. I only needed to pull lightly and she'd get her arm popped right out of socket.

"Now be a good girl and get the fuck out of my face." I hissed in her ear. "And, stay away from Fang." I shoved her away from me and this time, she did fall.

She scrambled to her feet and shoved her way through the crowd that had gathered for our little spat. I turned back to Fang.

"Excuse you." I said, nudging him away from my locker.

"That was," he cleared his throat "interesting."

"I thought it was fun."

"Where'd you learn to fight like that?"

"Ju Jitsue." I said lightly. "Since I was nine. I really haven't gotten to do it lately." I said regrettably.

"Well, you're just full of surprises aren't you?" it sounded as if my fighting skills weren't the only thing he was commenting on. If only he knew the whole thing.

"I like to keep it that way. Never a dull moment around Maximum Martinez."

…..

The Flock came over my house after school to hang out. I pre warned Mom so she didn't accidentally spill the beans, but as it turned out she was at work late, so I didn't have to worry.

Now it was about five and we were lounging around the room. We girls were on the bed while the guys were taking turns sitting at my desk or on the floor.

"So, what are we going to do after school tomorrow?" Ella asked, stifling a yawn.

"I don't know what you'll be doing but I'll be on my way to see my cousin." I lied. I had to leave right after school to get to Phoenix by nine. I'd stay at a hotel and then I had sound checks all morning and until the concert.

"Really? That sucks." Iggy commented closing his eyes again.

"I guess. It's a long drive but it'll be worth it." yeah, six fricken hour drive to Phoenix but to see fans come from all over, hearing them scream your name, to know that you've had some sort of influence on their lives…it's a good feeling. Sort of an adrenalin high.

I leaned back against my pillow and closed my eyes, absently humming a tune that'd been stuck in my head all day. When the Flock left I'd pull the guitar out from my closet and finish the song I'd been writing this week.

"What are you humming?" Fang asked quietly. My eyes snapped open and I saw him and the others watching me.

"A song."

He rolled his eyes. "It sounds good. What's the song name?"

I thought for a moment. "Believe." I finally answered.

"Who sings it?"

"I don't know." I was sick of lying. But at least I knew I had a good song on my hands.

The Flock left soon after and I waited a few minutes before relaxing. I pulled my wig off for the first time in what felt like forever and brushed through my hair. I love my natural hair. It's a little past shoulder length, slightly wavy, and had natural highlights in it. after making sure my hair was smooth and normal I pulled my guitar from the closet.

My electric guitar was awesome if I do say so myself. It was black with a splatter paint affect in neon colors: green, orange, yellow, and even some pink. I started strumming and tuning my guitar until I was satisfied. I pulled out my lyric journal and put the words to the tune I'd had running through my head all day.

Once I was satisfied I played.

**(Believe by ****Orianthi)**

_You made it so easy to fall I had no fear at all__  
__I saw you beside me you never saw me there at all__  
__I promised you all this__  
__I made plans thinking this was it__  
__But never imagined__  
__I'd find you and lose myself instead__  
__I just never pictured it would end___

_And I, I wanna believe in love__  
__I wanna believe in something bigger than the two of us (the two of us)__  
__And I, I wanna breathe again__  
__I wanna go back to the days__  
__The days I had my innocence__  
__I wanna believe again___

_I picked up the pieces__  
__And put them back where they belonged__  
__But something's missing__  
__But part of me will carry on__  
__Yeah, I'm gonna learn to trust again___

_And I, I wanna believe in love__  
__I wanna believe in something bigger than the two of us (the two of us)__  
__And I, I wanna breathe again__  
__I wanna go back to the days__  
__The days I had my innocence__  
__I wanna believe again___

_And I, I wanna believe in love__  
__I wanna believe in something bigger than the two of us__  
__And I, I wanna breathe again__  
__I wanna go back to the days__  
__The days I had my innocence__  
__I wanna believe again (I wanna believe)__  
__I wanna believe again (I wanna believe)__  
__I wanna believe again___

I panted slightly and brushed my hair out of my eyes. I caught sight of something in my mirror.

Black hair, black clothes, and black eyes boring into my own through the mirror.

Fang.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks for all the reviews guys, you are amazing! ****BlackBlueNSliver951**** thanks for the band suggestion, I listened to some of their music and you can definitely look for their name in future chapters! As for your guess, you're good. Because it's a serious risk to my life if I **_**don't **_**update, here's the next chapter! **

**Disclaimer: Still don't own.**

Chapter 8.

_I panted slightly and brushed my hair out of my eyes. I caught sight of something in my mirror. _

_Black hair, black clothes, and black eyes boring into my own through the mirror._

_Fang._

Oh shit.

I launched off my bed and spun to stare wide eyed at my friend who had just caught me without my wig in full Max Ride mode.

"What are you doing here?" I gasped. He was staring at me with wide eyes.

"I left my phone." He pointed to my desk where a black cell phone rested.

"Haven't you heard of knocking?" I spat.

"I did. Nobody answered." Shit! I kicked myself for not locking the doors…and Mom wasn't home so he just came right in! Nobody stopping him.

"Oh,"

"Max…" he broke off, his words were strangled. "Your…your Max Ride?" he asked.

I broke right then.

"Please don't tell anyone." I begged quietly, looking at my feet.

Silence. I felt like crying, screaming, and throwing things at the same time.

Then, "I don't understand." He said at last. I looked up at him to see his face showing some of the first emotions I'd ever seen him display. Open confusion.

"What don't you understand?" I asked quietly. It was best to just smooth all of this over now.

"If your Max Ride, then why did you come to Navajo? Its just a small nobody town."

"That's why." I smiled slightly, thinking about the town that I had come to love over this past week and a half. "Nobody expects a…someone like me to live here. I could just put on a wig and be myself without anyone pretending to be different around me. "

"…"

I sighed and explained better. "When you're famous you don't meet real people. They either pretend to be your friend for fifteen minutes of fame, or to try and get a record deal through you. You'll learn that soon enough. You and The Flock are going places, Fang. But, by putting on a wig I was able to come here and meet you and the Flock and make friends who like me for me, my personality. Not my career."

"Well," he said after a minute. "I guess that explains why you always freak out about Max Ride things."

"What?" I demanded.

Fang smiled. A full blown smile. "Whenever a Max Ride song comes on the radio you tune it out. When you saw Nudges room you paled and looked uncomfortable. When Nudge told you about the tickets you made the excuse."

"Well I can't exactly not perform at my own concert to hang out with you guys in my audience." I smirked. "I didn't realize you noticed those things."

"I notice a lot more than you'd think."

Awkward silence.

"This isn't going to change anything is it?" I asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"You aren't going to tell the others are you? Please promise me things will stay the same."

"Why don't you tell the others?" he asked curiously. "They wouldn't rat you out."

"I didn't think they would. I just…I've known you guys for less than two weeks. Sometimes it feels like longer, but I want you all to get to know me as _me _Maximum Martinez before I introduce you to Max Ride."

He smirked. "I didn't know you two were different."

"We're strikingly similar actually." I smiled lightly. My heart beat slowing to a more healthier tempo.

"It's not my secret to tell." He finally admitted. "I won't say a word to the others, but you should. Before it's too late. If you keep that secret forever, what else could you be hiding from us?"

"Nothing!" I exclaimed, hurt.

"I know that. But the others are a little more sensitive."

"Yes, Mr. Emotionless Rock." I muttered.

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to."

He sighed.

"What song was that by the way?"

"New song."

"It's good. You should play it at your concert."

I felt my face heat up again. The thought of him knowing it was me up on that stage…it was weird. And I sort of wanted to make him proud. Weirder.

"I should go, before Nudge tries to come and drag me home."

"That would be very bad." I agreed.

Fang snatched his phone off of my desk and headed towards the door.

"See you at school tomorrow."

"Bye,"

He was about to pull the door shut before he poked his head back in.

"By the way, Max? You look better as a blond." Then he was gone, leaving me beat red and happy that someone finally knew my secret.

**A/N: Short but eventful! Hope you liked it! Read and Review please! Tell me what you think! Oh, and I'm always open to song/band suggestions! Feel free to leave some suggestions! Thanksgiving break is coming up in two days and I'm going to try and write a chapter a day. I'll try to update but I'm going to my grandparents and I don't know if they have wireless, so if I don't update by next Saturday you can expect a few chapters by Sunday! **

**Peace! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys thanks for the reviews! I love them! I've listened to some of the songs and I hope to add them in the future chapters. If you don't see them right away its cause I've already written some chapters and I'll add these songs in later. ****BlackBlueNSliver951****, ****  
****yes, actually, I think you'll like Chapter 13 a lot. ;) onward with the story! **

**I KNOW I FINISHED THE STORY ALREADY BUT I NEEDED TO FIX THIS BECAUSE IF I GOT ONE MORE REVIEW ON MY SPELLING SCREW UPS I WAS GOING TO SCREAM. (Oh and it's not in all caps because I'm mad, just so you know what changes were made to the story. It's nothing new! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride….or Fang, or Iggy, or the rest of the Flock.**

Chapter 9

Friday at school was uneventful. Fang acted as if nothing had happened the previous day which was both a blessing and aggravating. Someone knew about my secret, I sort of wanted to vent about it.

But I wouldn't bring it up. Needing to vent was weak. I wasn't weak. So I sat quietly while the Flock talked nonstop about the concert tomorrow.

I was leaving right after school. It took four hours to get to Phoenix and Mom wanted to check into the hotel by eight. ** (A/N. I changed the time it took to get to Phoenix. You'll understand why later in the story!) **We'd spend all of tomorrow rehearsing songs, practicing moves (we added a little acting into the concerts), and pyrotechnics.

"Hey Max….earth to Max!" Gazzy waved his hand in front of my face.

"Huh? What?" I snapped, slapping his and away from my face. With Gazzy you never knew where his hands had been.

"Oh, I was just saying that we'll try and call you from the concert tomorrow so you can hear some of it!" Ella offered.

I panicked slightly and looked over at Fang. He caught my eye and smirked rolling his eyes.

Oh geez, he's so cute even when he's being annoying….wait pretend I didn't just say that.

I gave Ella what I hoped looked like a convincing smile. "I'll look forward to the call." _Not. _

The bell rang and I fled.

…

Mom had me in the car the moment I got home. My instruments and clothes were already in the car so she just corralled me in and we were off.

Four hours in the car can be annoying. However, Mom kept up a continuous stream of happy chatter about her new job and I was so happy that she was finally happy. I could tell she really liked it here. I always felt horrible whenever we were on tour or living someplace that people knew who I was, she never had a normal life, and she couldn't go to work without being harassed. She became a home body. Especially after dad died. That was awful. Dad's name was a taboo around the house, whenever either of us mentioned him, the other would start crying…then we would start crying for making the other cry…it was a mess.

Finally we pulled up to the hotel. It was a fancy smancy celebrity hotel that I was booked in thanks to my band 'manager', the woman who thinks she's in charge of me but I only listen to my mom…and occasionally, not even her. Nothing against Mom, it's just my personality.

A bellhop came to get our bags and we traipsed into the hotel. I was wearing my wig so the paparazzi that loitered around with loaded cameras didn't snap shots of me.

Mom checked us in and we followed the bellhop to the elevator. Something I don't think I've mentioned about myself? I'm claustrophobic. _Why yes Max you have actually mentioned this…several times. _Well suck it up because I'm reiterating this for a reason. This reason is the _elevator. _Eight foot wide by ten feet tall….you didn't have to be a math geek to figure out the equation: elevator filled with people + Max= bad.

I tried to control my shallow breathing as sweat broke out across my forehead and under my arms. My vision swayed and I felt the walls closing in. It was too hot in here. Was that noise normal? Was this death trap going break with so many people in it? How were we even getting air? Oh god the floors' vibrating… it's going to break!

"Max, relax." Mom whispered in my ear, squeezing my hand. "You're having a panic attack. Relax; we're almost to our floor."

The bell dinged and I burst out of the elevator. I didn't care if this was my floor, I'd climb twenty seven flights of stairs just to avoid that elevator. But Mom and the bellhop exited the elevator with me and lead us to a corner suite.

The bellhop slid the card and let us in.

The suite was…well sweet. Two queen sized beds, a flat screen television, a fully tricked out bathroom (also with a television so we could watch TV and take a bath), huge windows that gave us a spectacular sight of the city lights, even mints on the pillows.

Mom tipped the bellhop and he left. I went to look out the window. We were high. I vaguely remember the elevator light stopping on floor thirty before letting us off. I might hate elevators, but I love heights. They make me feel so free. Like I could just step out the window and fly through the dry night sky…

I wish I could fly.

"Max why don't you get a shower to calm your nerves?" Mom suggested. "I'll order dinner."

"Oh I want—"

"Max I'm your mother I know what you want to eat." She laughed.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Steak, medium rare, two orders of fries and a coke." Mom recited. I beamed at her before grabbing my bag of toiletries and my pajamas and heading towards the bathroom.

Twenty minutes later and what I was sure was all of the hotels hot water, I came out of the steam filled bathroom, towel drying my blond hair.

I sighed as I inhaled the scent of food.

My stomach started to growl and felt like it was eating itself. I dived for the covered platter and started inhaling my dinner, taking a few seconds between bites to moan in pleasure.

Mom just laughed at me and climbed into bed.

I finished dinner and we set the empty trays outside the door. I climbed into bed, content.

"Goodnight Max." Mom said, turning off the lights.

"Night," I yawned already thinking about tomorrow and my concert and more importantly, who'd be in the crowd.

…

"Max! It's time to get ready!" Chrissie, the woman who handled my makeup and clothes issues, snapped, pulling me into a seat set up in front of my dressing room mirror.

I had learned not to object with Chrissie in the past. She may be small but she was fierce…she reminded me of Nudge. Suddenly I was nervous again.

Chrissie took my hands and started painting them a metallic color. No fake tips….they took forever to get off and hurt like hell to punch with.

She also put on black eye shadow, eyeliner, and mascara. She brushed some blush onto my face and put black lipstick on me as well.

My hair she straitened with a flat iron but otherwise left alone.

I was shoved behind a changing curtain and pulled on a black tank top with lace like designs, skinny jeans, and black boots that came up to my knees. My only jewelry was a necklace with a angel wing and a heart on it. **(Outfit components are posted on my profile!) **

I was ready for my concert. The opening act was already on stage so Mom had me alternating between sipping Gatorade (for electrolytes) and water for hydration.

I pulled my guitar strap over my head as the opening act finished up and exited the stage.

I told them good job and what not before heading under the stage where the rising platform would take me up on stage. The stage hand slid my wireless microphone onto my head and nodded for me to get ready.

A lone drum beat began upstage and that was my signal. The platform started rising and I started playing. I heard the crowd hush momentarily before they started going crazy. I rose to the stage and my concert began.

**(Arizona by Hey Monday)**

_It took two days, for me to figure out__  
__This isn't working out, but I lost my way__  
__I drove all night, just to be with you__  
__But you weren't worth that you, I gotta hit the breaks__  
__Now you know, get up and go.___

_(Chorus):__  
__Arizona, Arizona__  
__A car wreck on the highway__  
__Now you're burning by the side of the road__  
__Arizona, Arizona__  
__Theres a million miles to Florida__  
__Now your history, I'm stranded__  
__Get me out, I'm going home___

_Deep in your soul, lies a lonely heart__  
__That only ever comes, for you alone__  
__And i cant relate, so i gotta leave you here__  
__I can breathe without you dear, just start walking away__  
__Now you know, get up and go.___

_(Chorus):__  
__Arizona, Arizona__  
__A car wreck on the highway__  
__Now you're burning by the side of the road__  
__Arizona, Arizona__  
__Theres a million miles to Florida__  
__Now your history, I'm stranded__  
__Get me out, I'm going home.___

_Tell me how does that feel__  
__With the Grand Canyon__  
__Screaming at you__  
__Tell me how does that feel__  
__To see me when you go by___

_It took two days, for me to figure out__  
__This isnt working out__  
__I gotta hit the breaks___

_(Chorus x2):__  
__Arizona, Arizona__  
__A car wreck on the highway__  
__Now you're burning by the side of the road__  
__Arizona, Arizona__  
__Theres a million miles to Florida__  
__Now your history, I'm stranded__  
__Get me out, I'm going home__  
_

The song ended and people screamed.

"Hello everyone!" I yelled into the mic.

Screaming response.

"I want to thank you all for coming tonight and that I'm so happy to see you all here. I want to take a moment to draw attention to my amazing band here. This is Mike on base, Ryan on drums, Eli on keyboard, and Shannon and Macy as vocals! Give them a round of applause!"

The crowd went wild and I smiled brightly. I personally didn't think my band got enough attention. Our act was called Max Ride. Not Max Ride and Co.

I didn't think it was fair but they didn't seem to have a problem with it.

"Well, you all are our captive audience for the next hour and a half so we hope you enjoy! And keep an ear out! Because sometime during this concert we're going to premiere a brand new song that hasn't even been recorded yet!" but Fang has heard it…

For the next hour and a half that's exactly what happened. I sang. And sang. And sang.

I premiered Believe as the first to last song.

"Alright everyone that's about all the time we have…well how about one more song? Any suggestions?"

"Shut up and Kiss Me!" rang throughout the stadium.

I smiled and plugged my guitar into the pyrotechnics. It's really cool, the effects were triggered by what notes I hit…my solo was going to rock!

**(Shut up and Kiss Me by Orianthi) **

_You're too loud, I'm so hyper__  
__On paper we're a disaster__  
__And I'm driving you crazy__  
__It's my little game___

_I push you, and you push back__  
__Two opposites so alike that__  
__Everyday's a roller coaster__  
__I'm a bump you'll never get over___

_This love (love)-hate (hate) relationship__  
__You say you can't handle it__  
__But there's no way to stop this now__  
__So shut up and kiss me___

_Kick (kick), scream (scream) call it quits__  
__But your just (just) so (so) full of it__  
__Cuz it's too late, to close your mouth__  
__Shut up and kiss me___

_So shut up!__  
__So shut up!___

_I call you and you pick up__  
__I tell you how much I'm in love__  
__I'm laughing and you get mad__  
__It's my little game___

_Go ahead now, admit it__  
__You like your world with me in it__  
__Like a record, it's broken__  
__Yeah, I'm a bump you'll never get over___

_This love (love)-hate (hate) relationship__  
__You say you can't handle it__  
__But there's no way to stop this now__  
__So shut up and kiss me___

_Kick (kick), scream (scream) call it quits__  
__But your just (just) so (so) full of it__  
__Cuz it's too late, to close your mouth__  
__Shut up and kiss me___

_You miss my lips, my kiss, my laugh__  
__The riffs on my guitar__  
__The way we fight, we make up fast__  
__Oooooh yeah …__  
_

My solo came up and I pulled away from the mic, jamming an awesome solo on my guitar. Flames spewed towards the ceiling in harmony with the notes I played and the crowd roared. My face was once again projected on the twenty foot wide screen TVs placed around the building.

I looked bad ass.

___So shut up!_

The solo cut off and I continued singing, small bursts of fire came with certain notes.__

_Love-hate, love-hate, love hate!___

_Cuz it's a love (love)-hate (hate) relationship__  
__You say you (you) can (can) handle it__  
__But there's no way to stop this now__  
__So shut up and kiss me___

_Kick (kick), scream (scream) call it quits__  
__But your just so freakin' full of it__  
__Cuz it's too late, to shut your mouth__  
__Shut up and kiss me_

I hit the last note and panted hard as the crowd roared loud enough for a standing ovation. But I was spent.

"That's all we have for you guys tonight! We hope you had an awesome time! Thanks for coming!"

With that the band exited the stage.

Mom was there to hand us all towels and water bottles.

"You guys were fantastic!" She was all smiles as microphones were detached and someone took my guitar for me. I chugged two water bottles and then I was ushered with the rest of the band to the hallway outside of our dressing rooms where we were to sign autographs.

Already there was a line longer than I'd have time to get through. I smiled and waved as people cheered and got to business.

The first people in line were two small girls, obviously twins.

I smiled at them "And what are your names?" I asked bending down to level with them. "I'm Kristen," said the one on the left, "and I'm Lauren." The other answered "Can you please sign our CDs for us?"

"Sure," I signed my name in bold strokes. They thanked me and the lined moved on.

I went through about ten more groups of people before a string of chatter reached my ears: "ZOMG I can see her we're almost there! I can't believe we're going to meet Max Ride! Oh, I wish Max was here! I…"

_Nudge. _

My eyes snapped up and I saw them. The Flock, plus a little blond girl were about ten people away. If I could stall I could not reach them by the time the signing was over…but no. I wouldn't hurt them like that.

I slowly worked my way through fans until the Flock stood in front of me.

"OMG your Max Ride, you were amazing, I love you! You're like, an idol to me, you have such a great voice, and your outfits are awesome and mumph phuph"

Thank you Gazzy.

I blinked, trying to act like I did the first time I met her when in truth I was used to her babble by now.

"Can you please sign our programs?" Ella asked politely.

"Sure." I said, glad that my voice was rough from all the singing. They wouldn't recognize my voice.

I signed programs for Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, and Ella. I turned to Fang but he just pushed the little girl, Angel, forward. She was cute. Blond hair like a halo, big blue eyes, and pink lips. She smiled a dazzling smile at me. She was wearing one of my shirts, one where I was singing into the microphone, lights glaring down on me, making my own hair look like a halo too.

She held out a silver Sharpie. "I'm Angel." She said happily. "I love your music. Can you sign my shirt? I sing too. I'm going to keep practicing and one day, I'm going to be in their band." She said hitching her thumb over her shoulder to point at the Flock.

"Well I'm sure you will be Angel," I said kneeling down to her level, taking the Sharpie. "Turn around sweetie." I said, hand on her shoulder. She turned around and I wrote on her shoulder:

Angel,

Keep singing, follow what you love, it will take you far.

Max Ride

I handed her the Sharpie back. "There you go sweetie."

"Thank you!" she hugged me. I froze for a second before wrapping my arms around her and patting her awkwardly on the back. She pulled away and grabbed Fangs hand.

Say it with me: awwww.

"Bye!" she called as they walked away.

Someone cleared her throat. I looked up and my smile slid from my face.

Guess who it was.

Come on, I know you can do it!

No?

I'll give you a hint. Think of a prostitute on fire.

Oh, now you get it.

Lissa.

"Hi Max!" she said in a high pitched voice as I stood up. "I'm Lissa. I love your music; if you went to school with me I just know we'd be best friends."

I scoffed under my breath. I froze for a second thinking she may have heard me, but my voice was covered by another noise.

The Flock laughing. They had paused in their exit to see Lissa make a fool of herself. I caught Fangs eye and he winked, holding back laughter. That gave me time to compose myself enough to hold my hand out for what Lissa wanted signed. She pointed to her shirt, one of mine as well, this one I was posing in.

I quickly signed my name and got rid of her.

I signed two more autographs and the body guards cut off the crowd.

My night here was done.

**R&R! **

**Peace! **


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone I just want to thank you for reading my story and thank you guys who commented or added me as a favorite author and this as a favorite story! You rock! Onward with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I do, however, own this plot, so paws off! **

Chapter 10

Mom and I have a tradition for concert nights; we went for milkshakes. My dad used to take us out for milkshakes all the time and after he died it became a tradition for concerts only.

After I washed up and pulled my wig back on we snuck out with the deteriorating crowd. There was a Steak an' Shake nearby that mom drove us to. I ordered a mocha milkshake with extra whipped cream. Yummy! I also ordered a burger and fries. Mom got a salad. Why are moms always making the healthy choice? It's a bit annoying really….

I had just taken a big bite of my burger when my phone started buzzing. I whipped it out to see Nudge's number on the caller ID. **(A/N I noticed I use Nudge a lot, especially as a conversation starter. It's not because Max is better friends with her than the rest of the Flock, it's because she's so random that I can start any convo with her.)**

I swallowed painfully and answered the phone.

"Hey Nudge."

Screams immediately started reverberating through my head as they came across the phone line.

"I can't understand you guys." I sighed, wincing slightly.

"OMGOMGOMG! Max we tried to call you during the concert but you didn't answer the phone! Why not? Ugh! It was so amazing! Max, the singer not you, is great live! Her singing! I mean, wow, and guitar! But the _effects_ were—" Someone covered her mouth.

"Thank you!" I called into the phone. I heard Fang chuckle. My heart fluttered. Wait…it _fluttered?_ No! Bad heart! Don't do anything so girly! Bad!

"Why didn't you answer?" Ella's voice floated through the line, further away. I was probably on speaker.

"I went to my cousins soccer competition," I lied smoothly (I'd already had this lie worked out when I saw I had missed five calls from Nudge during the concert) "I forgot my phone at her house."

"Wow Max, you have really bad timing. I mean, of all the times you could forget your phone, you choose tonight."

"Lucky me." I said sarcastically. "Where are you guys now?"

"Oh, we have a few more stops to make before we go home. You know…when in Phoenix!" Iggy yelled. I winced slightly.

"Alright. Well I'm eating dinner so go away and let me eat my burger." I snapped.

More laughing on the other line. "By Max! See you Monday!" Then there was just the dial tone. I wonder what Iggy meant…when in Phoenix.

I found out later.

…..

"Max get out of the shower already!" Mom banged on the bathroom door. "I need to get in there!" I groaned and turned off the shower, immediately missing the pounding hot water on my skin. I toweled off and opened the door.

"Happy?" I snapped. It's harsh to snap at Mom, I know, but I'm always in a bad mood when someone interrupts my shower. **(A/N that's totally true! I get so snarky and pissed off. Just ask my family!)**

"Get over it Max." Mom pushed past me and into the bathroom.

I sighed and flopped onto the bed, using a second towel to dry my hair.

I went to go get my suite case to get my pajamas and realized that it was locked in the bathroom with Mom. I heard the shower going and sighed. I'd just have to wait.

With nothing better to do I flipped on the television and changed the channel to Bones. I loved this episode! It was the pilot episode. It had just gotten to the part where they had identified the victim when I heard a scraping noise back by the door. There was a wall separating the lounge area and the bedroom area, I was in the bedroom area and the door was in the lounge area. I muted the TV and grabbed the nearest possible weapon. There wasn't much that wasn't bolted down so I settled for one of Moms heavy vet books.

I turned off the lights and pressed myself flat against the wall, peered around the corner just as there was a clicking noise and the door swung forward. Two tall figures and two slightly shorter figures entered the room. Huh. Four against one. I could take them.

I raised the book slightly and whipped around the corner.

"Who are you?" I demanded. The intruders froze. Then….

"ZOMG! It's you again! I knew we had the right room! Oh, please don't get the wrong idea, we don't want to hurt you or anything we just wanted to say hi! I mean, we saw you earlier but we didn't get to talk nearly enough and then Lissa was behind us. Ew Lissa I can't believe what she said to you I was just like 'are you serious' and she was smirking and being her yucky self. Don't worry about her."

_Nudge?_

And Iggy, and Gazzy, and Ella.

Huh? Where were Fang and Angel?

Then I realized: Holy shit the Flock is in my hotel room! Then yet another holy shit: I was in a towel!

I ducked back behind the wall.

"You guys need to leave." I said seriously. Iggy flipped the lights on and three sets of eyes focused on me. One set focused on my ear, hey, Iggy was good, but not perfect.

Gazzy flushed and slapped a hand over his eyes. Well, at least he had some decency.

"Oh! Sorry, we didn't mean to catch you in a bad time like this!" Ella gasped. Well, you break into my hotel room, and you expect me to be decent at any given moment? Riiiiight.

"What? Wait! What's happening?" Iggy demanded. Ella slapped his arm. I felt a small smile tug at the corner of my lips. "Never mind." He muttered something that sounded like: "hate being blind…miss everything good…" Ella hit him again.

"Look, I don't want any trouble so please just leave." I told them. What more did they want? They'd already heard me sing and had autographs.

"Honestly? I don't know. I just wanted to see you again." Nudge said. Wow. That was the shortest sentence I'd ever heard her utter.

"Look," I sighed. "Wait here." I disappeared back into the bedroom area. I pulled out my Max Ride supply backpack and pulled out a handful of picks and other merchandise.

"I don't mean to be pushy or anything, but I really need you to leave." I said and handed over my goodies.

"Oh wow thanks!" Gazzy beamed. Then his face flushed tomato red and he once again slapped a hand over his eyes.

"You're welcome. Goodbye."

"Bye!" they chorused. They filed out of my room. Gazzy ran into a wall before making it through the door. I snorted and slammed the door behind them. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Then I ran for my phone.

**(A/N. Max is bold, Fang is **underlined**)**

**Fang? Where the hell are you?**

Two seconds later.

At a diner. The Flock disappeared.

**No shit! They broke into my hotel room.**

Oh crap.

**Um…YEAH! Just get them home already! **

I'm trying, believe me.

**Alright. G'night.**

Night Max. And I am sorry.

I rubbed my temples where I felt a headache coming on. Mom opened the bathroom door surrounded by a rush of steam.

"Did I miss anything?" she asked.

I shook my head and went to change.

**A/N: I know it's kinda boring but I wanted another close call with her identity. I don't feel like I have enough of those. Read and Review please!**

**Peace! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride**

Chapter 11

I had just crawled into my bed Sunday after I'd gotten home. After the Flock had broken into my hotel I couldn't fall asleep, as a result I had huge shadows under my eyes and all I wanted to do was crawl into my familiar bed and crash.

But the universe had other plans for me. Or at least Fang did.

My cell phone buzzed obnoxiously in my ear. I tried to ignore it until it got to be too much. I answered it with a curt "What?"

"You sound like crap." Fang informed me.

"That's what happens after a concert idiot, you should know that by now." I yawned. "How'd you get the Flock home last night?"

"Dragged them by the ears." He answered shortly. I snorted, imagining Fang dragging the Flock to the car one by one while they tried to run away. It was comic.

"They didn't say anything did they?" I asked anxiously.

"Besides saying they caught you in a towel?" he chuckled. "Nothing."

"Hey! It's not my fault that they take after you and _don't knock._"

"But I did knock that day."

"Well you should have knocked louder."

"It's not my fault that you can't lock doors." He retorted.

"But I did last night! Iggy picked the damn lock!"

This time Fang laughed, a full out laugh that I rarely heard. It was nice, homey.

"Touché."

I sighed. "What do you want Fang?"

"…"

"Fang?"

"I wanted to ask you something."

No shit Sherlock, why else would he have called?

"And that would be…?" I let the question hang.

"Do you want to go to homecoming with me?" If I didn't know Fang better I'd say he blurted it out. But Fang doesn't blurt anything. He's quiet and thinks things through first.

I was silent for a moment, mentally throwing a fit. _Oh my god! Fang just asked me out! He wants to take _me _to homecoming. Out of all the other girls in the school! Aiiieee! _

That was when I realized something. To him I wasn't just any girl. I was Max Ride. He knew my secret. Was he asking me out just because I was famous? _No, what good would it do him? Nobody knows who you really are. Besides Fang wouldn't do that. He's too nice. Loyal. _But I've only known him for about two weeks or so, I can't be too sure, even if I feel like I've known him my entire life.

On the outside I said: "Are you asking Max Martinez or Max Ride?"

"I didn't know they were two separate people." He answered coolly. I remembered him saying the same thing when he found out about my secret on Thursday.

"They aren't to me, but to you? How do I know?"

He sighed. "Remember how I forgot my phone on Thursday?" he asked.

"How can I forget?" I answered sarcastically.

"Well I left it there on purpose." He confessed. "I was going to ask you then, but, I, er, got distracted." He chuckled.

I felt my face heat up. He wanted to ask me out for me, not Max Ride. I felt my insides get all mushy.

"In that case, yes. I will go to homecoming with you." I smiled and squealed like a real girl in my head.

"Cool." I heard a smile in his almost nonchalant voice.

I yawned again, I couldn't help it.

"Go get some sleep Max. Sorry to bother you."

"No problem." I yawned again. "See you tomorrow Fang."

"By Max."

…..

On Monday the first thing the Flock did when they saw me was show off their new Max Ride merchandise.

"We got guitar picks and bracelets," Gazzy listed, and I noticed that nobody mentioned how they really got those goodies. "And autographs. Oh! And Angel got a personalized autograph telling her to follow what she loves. Angel was, like, ecstatic. She won't take the shirt off apparently."

"Gazzy." I said slowly. "You are starting to sound like Nudge." He blushed and Nudge scoffed.

"Nobody can sound like me." She assured us.

I was inclined to agree, however Gazzy was coming close.

"I'm happy for you guys." I said with a smile as I headed to first period. I slammed into someone and tripped back into Fang. He caught me and held me up. I saw Lissa sprawled on the ground in front of me.

Get this…she was wearing my concert shirt, except she'd cut it up so it exposed her stomach and cleavage. I could clearly see my autograph on the shoulder.

"Watch where you're going bitch." She spat at me.

"Sorry, I didn't see you there. Must have something to do with my natural aversion to hoes." I replied in a hard voice.

The Flock laughed and she blushed as red as her hair. "I told you that you don't want to mess with me."

"And yet, I keep getting these great opportunities to do just that. Your shit out of luck, honey." I hissed, slamming my shoulder into her as I walked away. She teetered in her heals and fell to the ground once again.

Nobody helped her up.

….

"So," I said carefully to Nudge and Ella during chorus, "When are you guys going dress shopping?"

"Today after school," Ella answered.

"Why?" Nudge added.

"Well, um…Fang asked me to the dance and I need a dress." But I was drowned out after the 'Fang asked me to the dance' part.

After several squeals and oh my gods they agreed that I could come with them to the mall, except that we'd have to get a ride from Ella's mom because Nudges Tahoe had a flat tire.

"We can take my car." I offered.

"You have a car?" They asked in unison. Kinda creepy, I'm not going to lie.

"Yeah," Actually, my car was the only thing I'd splurged on with my Max Ride money. It was a 2011 Viper. Red. I loved that car, and I barely got to drive it.

When the girls saw it after school their mouths dropped.

"This is your car?" Ella demanded. Nudge, for the first time since I met her, was speechless.

"Yup." I said proudly, stroking the hood.

"How did you get this? Even Nudge and Fang don't have nice cars like this. And they're like, rich." Ella whispered.

Well, I'm _very_ rich. Instead I said, "I got it with money from my dad." True enough. I owe all my Max Ride money to my dad. He got my career started.

"Well that was nice of him." Nudge finally got out.

"Yup." I didn't like the subject of my dad. At all. "So, are we going or what?"

…

"Nope, no way. Nah ah, try again." I called form inside the dressing room where I had been forced into a _pink _dress.

"At least let us see it!" Nudge called.

"No! You'll laugh." I protested.

"No we won't."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

I unlatched the door and walked out in my god awful dress choice.

They laughed.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Max! Get that thing off of you!" Ella chortled. Nudge was rolling on the floor. I knew it looked ridiculous….

"I'm going, I'm going!"

I tried on four more dresses that they'd supplied me with until I hit one I liked. Scratch that. Loved.

It was blue and black and came to about mid thigh. The dress was fitted and tied in the back and strapless. The torso was a mixture of black and blue. The skirt flowed in a gauzy material. It wasn't super girly, it was more rocker chick. More my style.

"Okay guys, I really like this one!" I called.

"Well show us then!"

Easy for them to say, they had already found their dresses at the last store. I unlatched the door and slipped out into the mirrored hallway.

"Oh Max!" Ella gasped.

"OMG you so have to get that dress Max! It's gorgeous! And I know Fang will love it! It's a great color on you and…OMG it's just perfect." Nudge rambled.

I looked at myself from all angles.

"I'm going to get it." I smiled. I found the perfect dress!

For the next hour the girls dragged me through the mall finding the perfect accessories for our dresses. By the time we were done I'd had enough shopping for a lifetime.

But I could assure myself that I was going to have a great time at the dance. I had the perfect guy, and now I had the perfect dress to match.

**A/N: Well? What do you think? Honest opinions please! Is there anything I'm missing? Anything I need to add? Details? Let me know! R&R!**

**Peace! **


	12. Chapter 12

**So I want to thank everyone who's reading this, you guys are awesome! I try to update as soon as possible, usually I have the next chapter or two completed before I post one. Well…onward with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride, JP if you want to give it to me that'd be cool. If you don't, well I would settle for just Fang ;) **

Chapter 12

I watched the Flock tune their instruments and hook their equipment up. Tuesday nights were when their band practiced. I'd been to two of their practices already and I was convinced that they just _had_ to get signed.

And I was going to help them. Or rather, Max Ride was.

I inconspicuously slid my tape recorder (one that I used to record myself playing new songs so I could give myself feedback) under my jacket and turned it on.

"Can I make a request?" I asked them as they got ready to start.

"What will it be?" Iggy asked testing his drums.

"Untitled." I thought that was a funny title but Fang had explained to me that he couldn't find a title good enough to describe the song when he wrote it.

Yes, when _he _wrote it. On top of being a great singer, guitar player, and all around great guy, he wrote his own songs too. He'd written over half of the ones that the Flock played.

"Here it goes." Fang said.

"One, two, three, four…" Iggy hit his drumsticks together as he counted. Then they started playing.

**(Untitled by Simple Plan) **

I open my eyes  
I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light  
I can't remember how  
I can't remember why  
I'm lying here tonight

And I can't stand the pain  
And I can't make it go away  
No I can't stand the pain

Chorus:  
How could this happen to me  
I made my mistakes  
Got no where to run  
The night goes on  
As I'm fading away  
I'm sick of this life  
I just wanna scream  
How could this happen to me

Everybody's screaming  
I try to make a sound but no one hears me  
I'm slipping off the edge  
I'm hanging by a thread  
I wanna start this over again

So I try to hold onto a time when nothing mattered  
And I can't explain what happened  
And I can't erase the things that I've done  
No I can't

How could this happen to me  
I made my mistakes  
Got no where to run  
The night goes on  
As I'm fading away  
I'm sick of this life  
I just wanna scream  
How could this happen to me

I made my mistakes  
Got no where to run  
The night goes on  
As I'm fading away  
I'm sick of this life  
I just wanna scream  
How could this happen to me 

The song came to an end and I clapped enthusiastically.

"Keep singing." I egged them on. They didn't have to be told twice.

….

"Hey Fang. I have a question for you." I told him.

"Yeah. What's up?" he came over to me, guitar strung to his back. I looked over his shoulder; the Flock was still within hearing range. I grabbed his hand and dragged him over towards the hallway.

He chuckled as I closed the door to Nudges room behind us.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on now?" he asked me.

I nodded. "How do you feel about cutting out of class early tomorrow?"

His eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Why?" he inquired.

"Because I have to go to Phoenix to finish recording my newest CD and I wanted to know if you wanted to come with me?" I finished lamely. I felt sort of stupid for asking but I really wanted him to come.

"Sure."

"Really?" I looked up at him through my eyelashes.

He smiled. A real, million dollar Fang smile.

"Really."

"Then we'll leave third period. Meet me at my car then?"

"I'll be there.

…..

True to his word, Fang was leaning against my car when I came out after second period. I dumped our school stuff in the trunk next to my guitar and motioned for him to get in.

Being a guy after all Fang had to make comments about my car. I honestly knew nothing about my car. I had only bought it because it looked cool and was fast. Fang seemed almost appalled at this and took it upon himself to spend the four hours to Phoenix to tell me things about my car. I honestly couldn't tell you one thing he'd actually said, I just let his deep voice lull me into a state of happiness, nodding at appropriate times.

He finally ran out of things to say about five minutes before we got to Mackie's recording studio.

"So, who is Mackie anyway?" Fang asked looking at the sign on the side of the studio.

"He's my producer. He gave me my first recording deal. He found me at a karaoke bar." I smiled at the fond memories of how he'd approached me after I'd sang that day, two years ago.

"You like him." He stated.

"Huh?" what did he mean by that?

"You smiled. You only smile when you're talking about someone if you like them. You said you had no friends as Max Ride but if I didn't know better I'd say you are friends with Mackie." He said it as if it was a fact not just an observation.

"I guess. Yeah, Mackie is my friend." I said confidently. "Come on, we're already running late."

He followed me into the stucco one building story. It was small, cozy. Just like Mackie liked it. We pushed through the door and into a room with blue walls and brown carpet. There was a receptionist desk but I bypassed it and headed towards a door behind it.

"Well looks like the princess has finally graced us with her presence." A voice with a very fake British accent called from my left.

"Ryan," I sighed before I'd even turned to look at my drummer, "for the last time you. Are. Not. British." I said walking over to flick his ear.

He took a swipe at me but I dodged and he chuckled. Then he looked behind me and stopped, his face adapting a curious look.

"Well, well, well who do we have here?" He asked staring at Fang who I'd almost forgotten for a moment, distracted by my normal band life.

I cleared my throat. "Guys, this is Fang." There was a chorus of hellos and introductions.

"Well, mate," Ryan said, standing up and shaking hands with Fang, "you must be something else if you got her fallin' for you."

"Ryan!" I objected, my face heating up. He chuckled. "Don't worry love, he doesn't seem to be affected by my humor." He hitched his thumb towards Fang who had is usual expressionless mask on. I blushed harder.

"What makes you think I'm falling for him?" I demanded.

"Well, why else would you bring anyone here? Let lone tell him who you are behind that ridiculous wig."

"Speaking of which, get that damn thing off you head, girl." Another voice came from behind me.

I spun around again to come face to face with Mackie. He was a handsome man in his late thirties who wore an Armani suite and blue tinted glasses that he thought made him look 'hip'. He really just looked ridiculous. But that was Mackie. His short blond hair, streaked with blue, was spiked strait into the air.

I'm sure plenty of women would want to be with him but he was happy with his partner, Chuck. They'd been together for over ten years.

I hugged Mackie. He returned it, chuckling quietly.

"How you doin' Maxi?" he asked.

"I'm good." I assured him. He let go of me but grabbed the ends of my wig as he went so it pulled off and my blond hair settled like a curtain around me.

"I really do hate this ridiculous thing," he said, holding it up in distaste. "You are so much better as a blond honey."

"I don't know, I was thinking about dyeing my hair brown." I teased.

"Don't even entertain the thought!" he gasped, putting one hand over his heart.

"Are you guys done yet?" Eli demanded from where he sat. "We do have a album to finish recording."

"Can it." I said at the same time Ryan said "Don't get you knickers in a twist!"

Eli was a good guy, and very talented on the piano, but he could get on my nerves.

"He's right you know." Mackie sighed. "We should get to work. Tune your instruments and get in there for a mic check before we waste any more time." Mackie ordered, pushing me lightly towards the glass incased room that held all of the recording equipment.

The band entered before me and I called to Fang over my shoulder. "Just relax out here. Mackie will show you the basics of recording an album."

I saw him nod as he took a seat in one of the two rolling office chairs that were located in front of a huge consol of switches, levers, and buttons.

"You know Maxi, you picked well, he's adorable." Mackie whispered in my ear.

"Don't go getting any ideas," I warned him, jokingly. "He's mine."

"That he is. That. He. Is." Mackie muttered before he pushed me into the room and shut the door.

**Thanks for reading! This was more of a filler chapter, introducing Mackie. I love Mackie. Every girl needs a gay best friend and that's what Mackie is to her. Kind of sad I didn't introduce him before, he's fun to write about, but he will be in here as much as possible now! Hope you like him!**

**R&R**

**Peace! **


	13. Chapter 13

**Okay guys, so I've had some questions about when Max will tell the Flock about who she really is. Well the answer is…its coming. Don't be mad at me. I already had all of this planed out before I started writing it. I know it may seem slow but I hate it when people make the Flock jump into rash decisions, so I'm taking it one step at a time. But it's coming…and its going to be good! I promise! **

**I'm going to spice it up some! Introducing: Fangs POV! I felt like doing something different. Let's see how it turns out! Onward with the story! **

**Disclaimer: If I owned Maximum Ride, Fang would not have been such an idiot in book 6. X_X**

Chapter 13

Fangs POV:

I followed Max into the small stucco building that read 'Mackie Productions and Co.'

Inside the building was a small reception area. There was a desk against the wall with a woman tapping away at the computer but Max completely ignored her and walked through a door to the receptionists left. As soon as we pushed through the door a voice called out, "Well looks like the princess has finally graced us with her presence," in a very cheesy British accent.

I looked over to my left to see a guy with brown hair and brown eyes lounging in an office chair, drumsticks in hand.

"Ryan," Max sighed. "For the last time you. Are. Not. British." She staggered each word. She walked right up to him and flicked his ear. He tried to take a swipe at her but she easily side stepped him and laughed, he chuckled too. His eyes suddenly flickered to me and he stopped laughing, realizing for the first time that Max hadn't come in alone.

Well, well, well who do we have here?" He asked turning to Max. She looked slightly startled and she said "Guys this is Fang." Everyone acknowledged my presence in some way or another.

Ryan got up from his seat and came over to me, holding out a hand for me to shake. I grasped it and he said: "Well, mate, you must be something else if you got her fallin' for you."

Max blushed thoroughly and I felt slightly embarrassed too, but I easily hid it behind my usual expressionless mask. Showing no expression was always better than trying to explain the emotions that you don't want people seeing, that was something I'd learned when I was in foster care.

"What makes you think I'm falling for him?" Max demanded. That stung a little. Was she _not _falling for me? Was I the only one doing any falling?

"Well, why else would you bring anyone here? Let lone tell him who you are behind that ridiculous wig." Ryan replied. Max blushed harder.

"Speaking of which, get that damn thing off your head girl." A new voice interrupted. Max spun around and smiled at the newcomer.

He was…eccentric, to say the least. He had short spiked blond hair with blue streaks, blue tinted glasses that looked like they came straight from the eighties, and an expensive looking suite.

Max hugged the man. That was the first time I'd seen her actually act affectionately towards someone, aside from Angel at the concert Saturday, and even then, Angel had hugged her first.

The man, I'm assuming was Mackie, hugged her back and laughed quietly.

"How you doin' Maxi?" he asked.

"I'm good." She answered him, and they pulled apart. As Max pulled away Mackie gripped her wig and with one swift tug pulled it from her head. Max's blond hair spilled over her shoulders. I loved Max's natural hair color. She looked like herself, real, as a blond, not fake like most other girls.

"I really do hate this ridiculous thing," Mackie said holding the wig away from himself, pinching some of the brown locks between his thumb and forefinger, like if he held it too close he would catch something from it. "You are so much better as a blond honey."

I recognized the look on Max's face. It was the same look she got whenever she teased Iggy or got sarcastic with a teacher, or anyone else for that matter. "I don't know, I was thinking about dyeing my hair brown." She said, fingering the ends of her hair.

"Don't even entertain the thought!" Mackie gasped dramatically, putting one hand over his heart as if to keep it from jumping out of his chest.

"Are you guys done yet?" A blond guy asked from where he sat across the room. I immediately didn't like him. "We do have an album to finish recording."

"Can it." Max said in a steely voice at the same time Ryan said "Don't get you knickers in a twist!"

"He's right you know." Mackie sighed turning to Max once again. "We should get to work. Tune your instruments and get in there for a mic check before we waste any more time." He ordered, pushing Max lightly towards the door to another room with several glass windows and a bunch of equipment inside.

The band entered the room and Max called to me over her shoulder. "Just relax out here. Mackie will show you the basics of recording an album."

I nodded to her as I took a seat in one of two rolling office chairs placed in front of a monstrous consol pretending to be absorbed with the technology as I listened to Max and Mackie speak quietly.

"You know Maxi, you picked well, he's adorable." Mackie whispered when he thought I couldn't hear. Max blushed lightly.

"Don't go getting any ideas," She warned him. "He's mine." I felt like jumping up and down shouting to the heavens! I was Maximum Martinez's! She saw me as her man, I was off limits to all others. This emotion was new to me, I usually don't feel like doing anything remotely close to jumping, yet, for Max I would.

I would do anything for Max.

"That he is. That. He. Is." Mackie muttered under his breath before shoving Max into the room and shutting her inside.

…..

**(Stand in the Rain by Superchick)**

_She never slows down.__  
__She doesn't know why but she knows that when she's all alone, feels like its all coming down__  
__She won't turn around__  
__The shadows are long and she fears if she cries that first tear, the tears will not stop raining down___

_[CHORUS]__  
__So stand in the rain__  
__Stand your ground__  
__Stand up when it's all crashing down__  
__You stand through the pain__  
__You won't drown__  
__And one day, whats lost can be found__  
__You stand in the rain___

_She won't make a sound__  
__Alone in this fight with herself and the fears whispering if she stands she'll fall down__  
__She wants to be found__  
__The only way out is through everything she's running from wants to give up and lie down.___

_[CHORUS]__  
__So stand in the rain__  
__Stand your ground__  
__Stand up when it's all crashing down___

_You stand through the pain__  
__You won't drown__  
__And one day, whats lost can be found__  
__You stand in the rain___

_So stand in the rain__  
__Stand your ground__  
__Stand up when it's all crashing down__  
__Stand through the pain__  
__You won't drown__  
__And one day, whats lost can be found___

_[CHORUS]__  
__So stand in the rain__  
__Stand your ground__  
__Stand up when it's all crashing down__  
__You stand through the pain__  
__You won't drown__  
__And one day, whats lost can be found__  
__You stand in the rain_

Max sings with such emotion that it surprises me sometimes. For such a sarcastic, tough girl she had a lot of emotions that she didn't show. She thinks I know things about her, but I don't know nearly enough. I want to know about her past, before the fame. I want to know what makes her sing this way.

"You know," Mackie said casually, "she really is an extraordinary girl. Not just because of musical talent, but because she's a decent human being. Not many people become famous and still keep a level head."

"I've noticed that about her. That's one of the things I like most about her actually, her levelheadedness. She's unlike any other girl I know." I admitted.

He nodded. "You take good care of her. She likes you a lot, I can tell, if you hurt her I'll take the dads role and kick your ass."

"I would never hurt Max." I said honesty and determination ringing out from every word I spoke.

"Let's hope not." He sighed, watching Max sing for another minute. "Do you know how she got her singing career started?" he asked suddenly.

"Um, you found her in a karaoke bar?" I said, recalling what Max had told me earlier.

"No…well, yes, but it wasn't by accident."

"What do you mean?" I asked. I didn't want to pry into Max's life when she had purposefully hadn't told me about it. But at the same time curiosity about this amazing girl took over.

"Two years ago I got a letter from a man named Jeb Ride. He told me that his daughter was gifted above the normal talent that was popping up those days. I really wouldn't have paid much attention to it, I got a lot of letters like it you see, but there was one line on that letter that drew my attention. 'To give my girl a chance would be to give me the world'. That's what he had written. A man whose only dream was for his daughter to be happy, well, that was so rare anymore. He'd sent a DVD with the letter. I watched it. It was scenes of Max singing strung together. The film was of moments where Max didn't know she was being filmed, when she was swinging on a porch swing playing her guitar, when she was singing a song to her mother for her birthday. Real life moments. It was watching that video that I realized what a gem Max really could turn out to be. So I went to Jeb's bar one night.

"I'd set it up with Jeb. He assured me Max would sing. 'She sings every night,' he'd said over the phone, 'You couldn't stop her if you wanted to, but then, nobody wants to'. When I heard Max sing that night," he shook his head and exhaled sharply, "I knew she was different. I knew she could be a star. A real one, a person kids _should_ idolize, not because she was famous, or because she sang about sex and other things kids your age think are important, but because I knew people would listen to her. To her lyrics and what they really mean. People could learn from Max. I got to her right after she got off stage and had her come down to this studio that week to lay a demo. The band here were friends of hers from school. They were perfect for her band. And just like that Max Ride was launched in the world.

"Within a month of her CD hitting the shelves Max was famous. Do you remember how fast the name Max Ride came to be? And how she's _stayed _like that ever since?" I nodded and he continued. "Well we were all astonished. Max just wanted to sing for fun, to let people hear her music, to be herself. She never, in a million years, thought she'd get more than fifteen minutes of fame.

"About a week after her first concert Max's dad was in a car accident. He was hit by a semi truck trying to shake paparazzi off his tale. He was killed on impact. Max was in the car with him. They'd gone to the store because Max had wanted ice cream. Max is lucky to be alive. After her dad died Max started wearing a wig in public so the paparazzi wouldn't control her life. She became closed off too.

"The reason the paparazzi even knew Max and her dad were going out that day was because she'd mentioned it to a new friend from school, and she in turn had tipped the press off for money. For the longest time Max's only friends have been me, her band, and her mother. But now I see her with you and she's different. Better. Whatever you and your friends think you have done for her it is nothing compared to the change I've seen in her today. Thank you for that."

I swallowed hard. Max had been through so _much _and hadn't told me about it. She hadn't trusted me enough to tell me her history. How were we going to make a relationship work if we didn't share our pasts.

That's when I realized that when have _I _ever told her anything about my past? When have I told her much of anything about myself? What she knew about me she mostly knew from the Flock or what she's discerned by herself. If I wanted her to tell me about her history, I'd need to tell her a little about myself.

"Fang," Mackie said, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Don't talk to Max or Valencia about Jeb. It's a touchy subject. It'd be best if Max told you herself. I just think you disserve to know what kind of person you have in your hands."

"Trust me," I told him, "I know."

**Well? Good? Bad? Ugly? I thought It'd be important to tell about Max's history and see how other people react to it. I also just wanted to show how much Mr. Emotionless Rock is hung up over this girl ;)**

**Read and Review!**

**Peace!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you guys for the reviews! You all are awesome! You disserve a good chapter. So here you go!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. I do however own Mackie so keep your hands off him!**

Chapter 14

I packed up my guitar and pulled my wig onto my head, getting ready to leave. There was just one thing I needed to do before I left….

"Hey Mackie!" I called to him as the band disappeared through the door. Fang was waiting for me by the door. I held up one finger telling him I'd be there in a moment. He nodded and headed out into the reception area.

"Yeah Max?" Mackie asked while doing something creative on a computer with the tracks we'd just played.

"I've got some talent for you."

He raised an eyebrow but still stared at the screen.

"Better than half the bands on the radio." I pushed. He looked up at me.

"And where would you have found this talent?" he asked me.

"Oh, in the middle of the desert. Here" I handed him a CD I'd made of the Flocks rehearsal last night.

"'The Flock'?" he asked.

"Don't worry about the name. focus on the music. Its really good Mackie, I think you need to give them a shot."

"'Manager: Maximum Martinez'." He continued to read.

"Just listen to it Mackie." I told him.

He put the CD down next to the computer and continued to mess with the screen. "I'll listen to it later." He assured me.

"I'll keep you to that." I warned him. "Call me when you want to get them here for a recording." I walked towards the door.

"Your that sure I'm going to want to sign them?" Mackie asked, spinning his chair to face me.

"I really am Mackie."

He nodded. "I'll listen later." He repeated.

"Whatever Mackie. Bye."

"Bye Max."

I walked out into the reception area to find Fang waiting patiently.

Once I joined him we headed to my car.

"You hungry?" I asked Fang as we pulled out of the parking lot and onto the busy rush hour traffic.

"Starving." He admitted.

"Burgers?"

"Sure."

…..

"So what did you think of the recording studio?" I asked Fang as we walked along the lake in a park nearby the restaurant we'd stopped for dinner at.

"It was cool. Mackie's a good guy."

"Yeah he is." I agreed, walking comfortably at Fangs side. There was an easy silence and then Fang took my cold hand in his warm one. I was shocked at first; he'd never really shown any sign of affection towards me before. Well, he had kissed me back that one time….but I think that was instinctual.

I looked at our hands interlaced and realized that our hands fit perfectly together. I smiled slightly.

"Did I ever tell you about the place where I grew up?" he asked me quietly.

I shook my head. I knew he and Nudge were adopted by their parents but that was it. he'd never offered up any insight to his past before.

"What brings that up?" I asked quietly.

"There was a lake nearby, just like this one." He said. "I was put into foster care when I was five. My parents were drunks that forgot that they had a kid half the time, let alone remembered to feed me. One day my kindergarten teacher asked me if I had money for lunch and I told her no. She asked if I had any food I could bring from home. I had told her that there was never any food at home. I think my teacher had had her suspicions before I told her that but she called child services that same day. I was put into the foster system right after that.

"I bounced around from foster home to foster home for the next six years until I met the Walkers. They were so nice to me, and they didn't even know me. They spent time coming to my foster home and taking me out to dinner, or to baseball games. They wanted to get to know me before they adopted me. And they did. They adopted me and I couldn't have been happier. They couldn't have kids, so they decided to adopt. Nudge came along a year later. Then eight years ago Mom found out that she could in fact have kids, and she had Angel. My life has pretty much been more or less the same since then. I would hang out with the Flock, I'd be quiet and never really care about anything. That's what happens in the foster system. You learn to detach. Nudge was only in the system for a year so she didn't get too lost in it.

"Then you come along and everything changes." He shook his head and chuckled. "Suddenly I can't stay detached. I have to be there and talk to you, to get to know you. You changed me, Max. Do you realize that? You changed me, and I like it."

We had stopped walking and he looked out at the lake as he told his story. I felt my heart contract in sympathy as he told me about his life. I had known something bad had happened to land him in foster care but I'd never really thought about how the system itself had changed Fang. What would he be like if he hadn't experienced it? Would he be talkative? Emotional? No, that just wasn't Fang. I had a feeling that somehow Fang would have ended up pretty much the same way. He looked at me as he said the ending of his story.

"I don't see why you needed to get to know me. I was, for all you knew, just an ordinary girl." I admitted bitterly.

"Max," he sighed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered there for a moment more before he said: "You could never be just an ordinary girl."

That's when he kissed me.

**Faxfaxfaxfaxfax! Yay finally! So now you know Fangs story too. Let me know what you think! You know the drill! R&R!**

**Peace! **


	15. Chapter 15

**Bring on the Fax!**

**Disclaimer: Do I really have to say it?**

Chapter 15

"_Max," he sighed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. His fingers lingered there for a moment more before he said: "You could never be just an ordinary girl." _

_That's when he kissed me. _

Oh my god, oh my god, _oh my god!_ Fang was kissing me!

Fang. Me. Kissing.

Kissing. Me. Fang.

No matter what way you spin it, it all equals out to one thing: _AIIIEEEE!_

His lips were so warm and sweet as they pressed against my own. My lips molded against his and I felt his hand gently cup the back of my neck. I wrapped my arms around his neck without thinking.

My first real kiss. I couldn't count the one from last week because I did that to spite Lissa, not because we were together.

Not that I hadn't wanted to be at the time.

Fang gently traced my bottom lip with his tongue making me gasp. I felt his tongue lightly touch my own tongue before he pulled away.

We stood there for a moment, separated by only a few inches of space, panting.

Fang looked at the sky. "We should probably leave soon." he said quietly.

"Huh?" I asked.

He smirked slightly. "If we want to get home any time soon we should leave." He said.

Oh, that made sense. Of course I couldn't help it.

This is my brain:

This is my brain after kissing Fang: ●

Not exactly pretty. That didn't mean I didn't want to make it happen again.

"Yeah, okay." I agreed. Fang kept hold of my hand as we walked back to my car.

….

It had been three hours since we'd left the recording studio so I was expecting a call from Mackie any time now.

Three hours had been more than enough time for him to finish what he could with our new recordings and listen to the Flocks music.

It was just a matter of time…

_Ring, ring, ring!_

My phone blared persistently. I pulled it from my pocket and barley glanced at the caller ID before I answered it.

"Hey Mackie," I answered brightly.

"I want this band in my studio ASAP." He demanded.

"Well, Mackie, I don't know, you were _so _busy earlier that you couldn't be bothered to listen. I mean, I bet you have your studio booked for the next few months, don't you?"

"Don't get smart with me Maximum Ride I want the Flock in here for a demo. Soon."

"When do you have in mind?" I asked smiling to myself. Fang was giving me questioning looks from the passenger seat but I ignored him.

"Saturday?"

"No can do. That's homecoming." No way was I going to miss _that _night with Fang.

"Friday?" he asked.

"This Friday?"

I sighed. "I'll ask them and get back to you."

"Thank you Max."

"Bye Mackie."

I hung up, a huge smile on my face.

"What was that all about?" Fang asked curiously.

"What would you say?" I asked him. "If I told you that the Flock officially has a reservation for this Friday at Mackie's studio to lay down a demo?"

Silence.

Then….

"Seriously?" he yelled. Okay, maybe not yelled, but he raised his voice. That's about as close to yelling as Fang will ever get.

"Seriously." I smiled.

"How'd he even get some of our music?"

My smile widened. "I don't make requests for nothing." I told him.

"You….you recorded us?" he shook his head in the 'I should have known' fashion.

"Sure did." I smiled. "I told you that the Flock was going places. You just needed to get someone to listen to your music."

"Max, you are honestly the most amazing girl I have ever met." He said, looking at me with such intensity that I blushed.

But it was a happy blush, not an embarrassed one.

"Feel free to say that any time you like." I said.

He laughed, a real laugh to go with his real smile. He leaned over the center console to kiss me.

…..

It was Friday and, for the second time this week, I was traveling to Phoenix, only this time I had the entire Flock in tow, not just Fang.

They were bursting with excitement as they talked about their luck that Mackie had just happened to get my letter and their music.

"This is just so exciting! I'm like so nervous and happy and…OMG what if I mess up? That would be so embarrassing! I mean this is our _chance! _Maybe our only one! Oh no, I don't want to mess it up!" Nudge groaned.

"Nudge, you won't mess up because your amazing at the piano and you never mess up." I assured her from my spot in the passenger seat.

"Thanks Max!" she said, easily consoled. "Okay, now where do I go from here?" she said coming off the exit for Phoenix. I carefully directed her through the traffic and to Mackie's studio.

The Flock piled out of the Tahoe upon our arrival and started grabbing their instruments.

"I'll go let them know were here." I said and headed into the building. Mackie was in the recording studio and came out eagerly to meet the Flock. He didn't seem surprised to find Fang there. Mackie's got an amazing ear (duh! He's a producer!) and could probably recognize Fangs voice. He did, however, seem surprised at Iggy's blindness, Nudges chattiness, and Gazzys', erm, talents.

Introductions were made and compliments were passed around before the Flock was finally in the recording studio and I sat next to Mackie at the console.

"Alright guys," Mackie said into the microphone. "Just go ahead and play a song for me, any song."

I saw them look between each other trying to come up with the best song to use. I decided to give them a suggestion.

"Hey guys," I said over the intercom. "How about Dare you to Move?"

They nodded and Gazzy gave me a thumbs up through the glass.

**(Dare you to Move by Switchfoot)**

_Welcome to the planet__  
__Welcome to existence__  
__Everyone's here__  
__Everyone's here__  
__Everybody's watching you now__  
__Everybody waits for you now__  
__What happens next__  
__What happens next___

_[Chorus]__  
__I dare you to move__  
__I dare you to move__  
__I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor__  
__I dare you to move__  
__I dare you to move__  
__Like today never happened__  
__Today never happened before___

_Welcome to the fallout__  
__Welcome to resistance__  
__The tension is here__  
__Tension is here__  
__Between who you are and who you could be__  
__Between how it is and how it should be___

_[Chorus]___

_Maybe redemption has stories to tell__  
__Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell__  
__Where can you run to escape from yourself?__  
__Where you gonna go?__  
__Where you gonna go?__  
__Salvation is here___

_I dare you to move__  
__I dare you to move__  
__I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor__  
__I dare you to move__  
__I dare you to move__  
__Like today never happened__  
__Today never happened__  
__Today never happened__  
__Today never happened before__  
_

"They're good aren't they?" I smiled smugly at Mackie who was slightly slack jawed at Fangs singing and the Flocks playing.

I felt so proud of my friends right now.

"They're good," he whispered . "I want to put out an album." He decided. I beamed at him and gave the Flock a thumbs up. "Just get them to play some more." He said, clearing his throat and sounding more like himself.

I gestured to the Flock and from that point on, they had no problem deciding what to play.

**Yay Max your making your friends dreams come true! Not to mention getting pretty cozy with Fang there… Ooo La La! **

**There is more to come! I'm almost done with the next chapter! Some reviews might encourage me to finish it!**

**Peace!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I love reviews! You guys are awesome! Just to clear something up, a few of you were asking: how come the Flock didn't question why they got the demo deal? The answers in the text! "They were bursting with excitement as they talked about their luck that Mackie had just **_**happened to get my letter and their music**_**." I know a lot of you are also ready to kill me because Max hasn't told the Flock yet. Well, I just finished that chapter! It's coming up soon! Be patient! I had to make it dramatic didn't I? haha! Suspense! Anyway, 18 is the magic number for this story! I know, you might **_**die **_**before then, but with how fast I update, you'll be fine. However, I said I've typed that much already, if I get a lot of reviews on this chapter I just might update **_**two **__**chapters next time…..food for thought.**_

**Next chappie!**

**Disclaimer: We've heard it all before….**

Chapter 16

Ella and Nudge slept over my house Friday night so we could spend Saturday getting ready for the dance. I'd asked why they couldn't just come over an hour before the dance and they had looked at me like I had grown two heads.

So now I was all but strapped into a chair as Nudge and Ella labored over my appearance. They'd already finished their own hair and makeup and had their undivided attention trained on me. How lucky can a girl get?

The worst part? They wouldn't let me look in the mirror. They wanted it to be a surprise. I mean, they could be making me look like a clown for all I knew!

I hate clowns! They're just…with the big shoes and red noses….I shuddered.

"Nudge? What should I do with her hair?" I heard Ella ask. "Half up?" she demonstrated. "Or a bun?"

"Half up." Nudge decided after a moment. "Curl that chuck of hair in the front though…yeah that one. Good."

They finished up.

"Okay, Max, time to get dressed." Ella announced. I tried to turn to look in the mirror. They caught me and shoved me towards the closet that was doubling as a changing room. "No peaking until your dressed." Nudge said firmly.

I grumbled something about them being dictators and freedom to my own body before I shut the closet door. I heard them laughing back in the room.

I dropped the robe that I'd been wearing and slid into my dress. **(A/N pictures of Max's, Nudge's and Ella's dresses on my profile!) **I quickly headed out of the closet.

"Oh Max you look amazing!" Nudge gushed. I blushed lightly and smiled at her.

"You really do look gorgeous Max. Fang won't be able to keep his hand off you." I felt my eyes widen as I blushed a deeper red.

They shared a knowing smile. I groaned. "Will you two quit the silent conversation? It's really annoying." I complained.

"Well you're always doing that with Fang! Do you know how much that drives us crazy! Not to mention we don't know how you do it so well and you've only just met him, I guess it's just fate." Nudge blabbed.

"You need you accessories Max." Ella said before Nudge could continue. She handed me a pair of silver earrings, and a simple silver chain with a black rose on it.

"Thanks Ells," I said and put on the jewelry, then sat on my bed so I could fasten my black heels.

When we were finally ready I looked at my friends. Nudge's dress was a corset like top and a fuller skirt that ended right before her knees. It was a blend of pink and grey and had jewels on the belt and chest. Ella's dress was a burgundy color with white jewelling on the top half of the dress and came down to about mid thigh. They looked beautiful and I just knew that Gazzy and Iggy would go nuts over them. **(A/N Nudge's and Ella's dresses are also on my profile!) **

"Can I see what I look like now?" I asked.

"Yes!" They squealed. Nudge covered my eyes and they each took an arm and lead me to the full length mirror Nudge had brought with her.

They pulled me to a stop and Nudge removed her hand.

Oh wow.

Ella had made it so my hair cascaded over my shoulders curling softly while pulled half up. Meanwhile Nudge had painted my nails black and done my makeup. Black mascara, eyeliner, and a blend of black and blue eye shadow adorned my face.

I looked awesome, I'd admit it.

"Guys, this is great." I smiled.

They squealed again and hugged me.

"Max?" Mom knocked on my door.

"Come in!" I called pulling away from the girls. Mom slipped into my room. She had her camera with her.

Oh god.

"Oh Max you look gorgeous!" Mom gasped. I felt myself blush. Why was it such a surprise that I could clean up nicely? "You girls did a great job." Mom complimented them.

"Thanks Ms. Martinez." Ella said and Nudge nodded vigorously. "And, of course, you girls look lovely as well. Mind if I take some pictures?"

"No," I answered.

"Yes," Ella and Nudge said at the same time. I glared at them but they just pulled me near them for a picture. Mom clicked the camera furiously until the doorbell rang.

"Oh, I'll go get it, you girls come on." Mom hurried downstairs while we grabbed are small clutch purses.

Mom was already letting the guys in by the time we got downstairs.

I blushed slightly as they spotted us on the stairs and just stopped to stare. Well, Iggy was listening to Gazzy quietly describe their dates.

I know Nudge and Ella thought they were lucky with their boyfriends but I could honestly say that Fang blew the competition away right now. He was wearing a tuxedo, along with the other boys, but he had on a black dress shirt under it. The only splash of color was a red tie.

He was definitely tall, dark, and handsome tonight.

He smiled and took my hand as I reached the bottom step. He pulled me aside so the others could find their dates, and he pulled out a corsage. It was a black rose. I don't know how he managed it, but that wasn't important. I thanked him quietly as he slipped it onto my right wrist. He bent down and gently pressed his lips to mine.

A camera went off and I pulled away to glare at my mom. She just smiled. "I couldn't resist. It was just too sweet." Then she went to take pictures of the rest of the Flock.

We had to get to the dance early because the Flock was performing. Apparently they did that often enough around the community. They'd agreed to play at the dance before I'd even moved here.

We said goodbye to Mom and headed out. Fang and I were going in my car while the others went in Gazzy's car.

I let Fang drive. I knew he really wanted a chance to drive my Viper.

"You look absolutely beautiful." Fang whispered to me as he helped me out of my car.

"You don't look so bad yourself." I whispered right back. There was barley any space between us, but what little space there was annoyed me. I stepped forward, closing the space completely and pressed my lips to his.

He pressed me back against my car and kissed me hungrily. This time, when his tongue traced my bottom lip I didn't gasp. Instead I intentionally let him in. The kiss lasted only a minute much to my disappointment but that was when the rest of the Flock arrived. Well Fang didn't exactly go speed limit on the way here…

"We should go in," he whispered, his lips lightly brushing against my own as he spoke.

"I suppose," I sighed.

He smiled. "Later," he said.

I was going to hold him to that.

**I love Fax! Ahhh, things are gonna change very soon! Sorry about any update issues in the future guys because my computer is idiotic and out of memory so it keeps freezing and erasing my data, like, say, the last page of this chapter that I had finished then had to shut my computer down! Grr, okay, rants over now. **** Review!**

**Peace!**


	17. Chapter 17

**My, my, you guys are busy little reviewers! Well, I did make a promise! So enjoy **_**TWO **_**chapters this update!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR. **

Chapter 17

The inside of the school's gym had been transformed into a room full of strobe lights and cheesy decorations. On the left wall a stage had been set up with the Flocks equipment. They headed straight there for sound check.

A few students had already arrived along with faculty members who were supervising the dance. They watched with interest as the Flock preformed the sound check and went over the songs they were intending to sing. I wandered over to the food table because I already knew the list of songs.

I munched on some pretzels and grabbed a cup of punch before it had a chance to be spiked with some sort of alcohol, and settled in for the wait.

By the time the Flock had finished setting up it was eight and the gym was filling fast and the DJ started playing a selection of songs.

Would it be considered ironic if I said my voice started blaring from the speakers?

Yes?

Well then this moment was ironic. I sighed. Didn't kids like any other music besides mine? Max Ride couldn't disappear for one night could she?

An arm wrapped around my waist. I expected it to be Fang. So you'll understand my surprise when I turned around to find some completely random guy behind me. He was built like a football player. He was shorter than Fang and had blond hair and blue eyes. I immediately hated him. He reminded me of a guy Lissa would be with.

I shoved his arm off of me and glared at him.

"What do you want?" I demanded, crossing my arms.

"Well, I see a pretty girl standing here alone with no date, and I decide to be a gentleman and be her date." He replied, trying to put his arm around me again. "I'm Ari, by the way."

I stepped out of reach.

"Well thanks for the offer, Ari, but I have a date." I said, trying to keep my voice even.

"So?" he demanded, stepping closer yet again, I was right up against the wall. "Ditch him for me. You know you want to."

"Well you're certainly full of yourself aren't you? Here's a tip: don't be, you'll only set yourself up for disappointment." I went to walk away but he moved into my way, trapping me against the wall.

"Think you're all that, do yeah?" Ari demanded. "Have good looks and think you can get away with anything with guys? Well you can't."

"Really? Because that's how you seem to get through life." I snapped. "Move out of my way, asshole." I shoved against him and tried to break away. I got about two feet before his arm wrapped around my waist again.

"Bitch, I didn't say you could leave." He growled in my ear. I elbowed him in the stomach and stomped down on his foot with my three inch heels.

He gasped and let go of me.

"This isn't over," he wheezed before I walked away from him.

What a douche.

"Hey," I said. This time I knew it was Fang who wrapped his arm around my waist. I can't believe I thought it was Fang before. That guy's hold was possessive. Fangs is just comforting.

"Hey yourself." He whispered into my ear. I turned around and hugged him, pressing my face into his shoulder. I liked his comforting smell, like cinnamon almost. I don't think it was cologne.

We started swaying back and forth to the music. There were couples dancing all around us, some swaying to the music, others dancing in ways I wish I could erase from my mind. I saw Iggy and Ella on the other side of the room holding each other close and whispering. Gazzy and Nudge were by the stage dancing wildly. It looked disorganized and just plain strange. It also looked fun.

"What are you thinking about?" Fang asked me quietly. He pulled me more securely against him and I moved my arms so they locked around his neck and I could look him in the eye. His beautiful obsidian eyes. A person could get lost in them.

I did frequently.

"I was thinking that dances might not be so bad after all." I answered quietly.

"You thought the dance was going to be bad?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe." I admitted.

"Because of your company or because it's a school function?"

"Definitely because it's a school function." I smiled. "The company is top quality." I assured him.

"Didn't you have dances at your other school?"

"Of course we did. I just never went."

"Why not?"

"Are you saying that you are a big fan of dances?" I countered.

He snorted. That's actually the first time I'd ever heard him snort. I thought it was cute. I smiled slightly. "Of course not. Well, not until you came here."

My smile widened.

"We think alike." I informed him. "I always thought that there was no point in going to a dance if I had no one to go with. You changed that." As we talked we'd leaned closer and closer and now his nose was touching mine. His lips were only an inch away; I wanted to close that space.

Fang beat me to that. His lips pressed against mine and I wanted to swoon. As it was my knees went weak and I was glad for Fangs support. I wound my fingers in Fangs shaggy black hair and happily kissed him back.

"Fang, Max, PDA." A bored voice sighed from behind me. Fang and I broke apart to see Mr. Carn, our English teacher standing there, arms crossed, foot tapping.

"Your just jealous." I muttered, and felt Fang shake with silent laughter at my side. Mr. Carn, however, being the old geezer he is didn't hear my comment. Maybe he should turn up his hearing aid.

"I don't care what you do at home but keep that out of school." He said and left.

"Isn't he supposed to warn us _away _from a physical relationship outside of school?" I asked Fang. He wrapped his arms around me once again and gave me his million dollar smile, the one he only ever gave to me.

He shrugged. "Probably."

The song we were dancing to ended and another song of mine started playing.

"Seriously?" I groaned. "Don't they play _anything _else?" I hid my face against Fangs shoulder.

He chuckled. "Shouldn't you be happy that people listen to your music?"

"Oh, I am. It's just….weird, you know? Hearing my music but I'm not actually singing it?"

"I never thought about it that way."

"You never think about a lot of things that will change with fame, but they pop up all the time. Sometimes they are the most insignificant thing in your old life, something that you take for granted but then it's gone."

"Like what?"

I thought for a minute.

"Like going to the movies. People are always staring at you, asking for your signature, wanting _something _from you. You can never blend in."

"Would you change it if you could? Would you not want to be famous?"

That was a good question. I loved being Max Ride. I loved singing and having people want to hear me. It was thrilling and fun and you got to travel and meet people. I inspired kids of all ages all over the world!

"No," I sighed. "I wouldn't. I'm sorry if I sound petty. I just need to rant sometimes."

"Its fine. Knowing that you don't like attention all the time is kind of cool. It makes you real, not like those people who are so fake they don't know what to do without the direction of others."

I still get a thrill hearing Fang compliment me. Telling me that I'm real is the biggest compliment he could tell me. I was always afraid that being famous would change me into someone I never wanted to be, but coming to this school had brought me back to my old self.

"Thank you," I whispered, getting a little choked up.

"I'll always be here for you." He assured me. And I knew he would be.

**Fax, *sigh* so sweet! I wish I had a man like Fang. Oh well, maybe someday…..READ AND REVIEW! **

**Peace! **


	18. Chapter 18

**Oh, something big is about to happen…..**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR but I do own a turtle! His name is Edgar Allan Poe! **

Chapter 18

The Flock had its own fan group within the school. Dozens of students crowded around the stage at nine o'clock as the Flock got up on the stage to perform. I was standing a ways back from the crowd. I love the Flock but my claustrophobia was physically restraining me from braving the crowd and standing in front of the stage.

Besides, I could see the stage and the entire Flock from where I stood.

"Alright, hey guys you all know who we are so I'm not going to bother talking. Here are some of our latest songs." Fang said. I smirked. He really wasn't much of a talker, unless you count our silent conversations.

Iggy started playing his drums and then the others followed into their songs.

**(A/N: if I put all of the songs I have in mind for the Flock to sing then there would be ten pages of nothing but lyrics. If you want to get a feel for the Flocks music style check out these songs: Ocean Avenue by Yellowcard, If you wanted a song written for you all you had to do was ask by Mayday Parade, Five minutes to midnight by Boys Like Girls.)**

"Alright guys, one more song for the evening." Fang said about a half an hour after they started playing.

**(You and Me by Lifehouse) **

_What day is it? And in what month?__  
__This clock never seemed so alive__  
__I can't keep up and I can't back down__  
__I've been losing so much time___

_'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do__  
__Nothing to lose__  
__And it's you and me and all other people__  
__And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you_

I felt tears sting my eyes as I listened to Fang's beautiful voice sing this beautiful song. __

_One of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right__  
__I'm tripping on words__  
__You've got my head spinning__  
__I don't know where to go from here___

_'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do__  
__Nothing to prove__  
__And it's you and me and all other people__  
__And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you-___

"He's talking about me, you know?" Lissa's voice hissed in my ear, interrupting Fangs singing. I turned to glare at her. She was wearing a short pink dress that showed off too much and clashed horribly with her red hair. **(A/N picture of dress on my profile) **

"What delusion are you suffering from?" I demanded. I found it pretty funny actually. Fang had told me when they were rehearsing yesterday that he'd written a song for me and was going sing it for me at the dance. He also had kicked me out of the rehearsal so I couldn't hear it before tonight. _And Lissa was ruining it! _ __

_'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do__  
__Nothing to lose__  
__And it's—_

"There is no delusion. Fang loves _me._" She snapped. People were starting to turn in our direction, nudging other people to watch what they thought was going to be a cat fight. And if Lissa didn't shove it soon, there would be one.

"Oh yes, all of that shoving you away, saying he doesn't like you, telling you to leave him alone, well there _must _have been a hidden love message in there somewhere." I rolled my eyes and tried to focus on the song.

___Nothing to prove__  
__And it's you an-__  
_

"Bitch he's talking about me. Keep away from Fang. He's mine." Lissa growled, coming to stand right in front of me. I could easily see over her head so some of the dramatic affect was lost; however, she had just royally pissed me off.

"You touch Fang, and you'll answer to me." I hissed giving her my death glare. She flinched. Several people have told me that my death glare could paralyze a person in fear. It didn't do that for Lissa. Instead, she slapped me. Right across the face. Hard.

I heard people gasp and the music abruptly ended before the song should have.

It took me all of two seconds to process the ring of students that had encased me and Lissa and to see the Flock jumping off the stage and pushing through the crowd towards us.

Then I attacked Lissa.

Maybe not the smartest of things to do but she had been stepping on my last nerve for too long. I was bound to break eventually.

Lissa wasn't expecting my attack, which shows exactly how much she really knows me. I launched myself at her and tackled her to the ground. One thing I hadn't really thought about when I decided to attack her? My dress, oh, _and heels! _Geez, thanks Nudge and Ella.

Lissa landed hard on her back with me on top of her as I slapped her hard across the face. Blood immediately rushed to the spot on her face. She had a nice handprint the color of her hair.

She shrieked and I heard adults yelling, trying to break through the crowd. I slapped Lissa again before someone pulled me off of her.

Fang.

I felt his arms lock around my waist, not comforting but restraining.

"Just ignore her." He hissed in my ear as I struggled.

"No. She's….gonna…_die!_" I shrieked as he started pulling me away.

"Relax, Max." he tried to sooth me. "She's not worth it. Let's just go before you get in trouble."

My struggles calmed. I knew he was telling the truth but I had a temper and I didn't take being forced to back down lightly. In fact, I never had backed down before. I'd only ever walked away when my opponent was down.

I saw Lissa back in the center of the crowd smirking as Fang led me through the crowd. Over the yelling and talking of the crowd I heard her voice.

"Yeah Max, back down! We all know who would have really won this fight." My fists clenched and I gritted my teeth. Fang put his hand gently on my lower back and propelled me forward. I was almost on the home stretch when she continued. "You're just a slut who steals other girls boyfriends for a good ride."

I saw red. I don't remember how exactly I got back to standing in front of Lissa but suddenly I was there and I had a fistful of her skanky dress in my hand as I growled in her face.

"Don't you _ever _call me that again hoe or I will make you life a living hell." I threatened.

"You wouldn't." she gulped.

"_Try me._" I hissed and shoved her away from me.

That whole display would have been pretty affective and been the end of it if Lissa hadn't grabbed a fistful of my hair the moment that I shoved her. She stumbled away with my wig in her hand.

Now let's take a moment to pose a question: if you were in the middle of a school dance, watching a fight and you see one of your fellow students get her wig ripped off revealing her to be a world renowned superstar what would you do?

Well, take pictures of course!

People shrieked and flashes went off everywhere as I stared at a wide eyed Lissa. She looked at the wig in her hand then back at me and the curtain of blond hair that had spilled out from under my wig.

I knew I looked unmistakably like my Max Ride self.

Well hell!

"I-I-I" she managed to stutter but that's as far as she got because that was when my fist slammed into her face. She screamed bloody murder and went down clutching her now broken nose.

"You bitch!" I screamed at her as she fell. That was when my situation really sank in. I was surrounded by kids taking pictures and now everyone knew who I was.

I spun around frantically looking for Fang. I found him and the Flock standing on my left. Fang looked concerned and slightly dismayed while the rest of the Flock stared at me with eyes the size of dinner plates.

Oh boy.

People were starting to break away from the crowd coming towards me with cameras. My claustrophobia started kicking in and I panicked.

I ran pushing through the crowd. They parted for me like the Red Sea parted for Moses. I was out in the parking lot before they seemed to realize that I was gone and by the time they were in the parking lot I was in my car and peeling out of the school knowing that my secret was blown and I couldn't take it back.

I passed the Flock as I pulled out of the parking lot. Fang looked nothing but concerned while the rest of the Flock just looked confused and hurt.

I wonder if they'll forgive me.

….

I didn't go home. I didn't know exactly _what_ to do. Going home would mean telling Mom what happened. She would be upset, though she wouldn't show it. She'd pretend that it didn't matter to her whether people knew who I was or not. She'd be bombarded by paparazzi everywhere. At work, at the store, even walking out to get the mail.

It had happened all before.

So I went to the park. I'd been here once before, with the Flock. We'd taken Angel to the playground and watched her play on the monkey bars for what felt like hours. Now I wasn't headed to the monkey bars but the swings.

Swinging is what I assumed flying would feel like, except with restraint. I kicked my heels off and felt sand from the playground squish between my toes as I made my way to the swings.

I pumped my legs hard, propelling myself forward and backward on the swing, gaining height with each pump. I wanted to go higher and higher into the cold night sky, until I could touch the moon and stars. So I could get away from the pandemonium of my life for just a few hours.

I got so high on the swings that my bottom would lift from the swing momentarily before I started back down. I wanted to let go of the chains and jump as the swing reached its peak. I wanted to see how high in the air I could get.

What would happen if I did that? Would I crash right away or would I make it higher before I crashed? Either way I would end up the same way. Back on the earth in pain.

The swing next to me creaked and I glanced down.

"How did you know I would be here?" I called to Fang as I passed him going backwards.

"I had a feeling." He said quietly and started to get his swing to go faster, matching my pace in a matter of seconds.

We were quiet for a while. He let me swing without bringing up the dance. I closed my eyes and felt the cold almost November air rush past me.

I'd have to talk to him eventually. I knew that. But I wanted to savor the silence for a moment. Right now I could understand why Fang talked so little. If you didn't say anything, didn't encourage conversation, then you would have more peace. More time to think without interruption.

Fang broke the silence.

"The school is in chaos." He said quietly. I barley heard him over the squealing of the chains. "People got pictures."

"Yup. By tomorrow morning news papers everywhere will have pictures of me punching Lissa's lights out. Maximum Martinez will be pushed into the shadows and Max Ride will be all people see."

"I'll still see you, Max." he assured me. I gave him a small smile.

"You'll probably be the only one."

"What about the Flock."

"They probably hate me by now." I said miserably, slowing my swing.

"No they don't hate you. They're in shock. But they could never hate you."

"Wait until people start saying things that aren't true about you guys. What Lissa said at the dance? About me stealing you from her? About being a slut and what were her words? Oh yeah 'stealing a girls boyfriend for a good ride'? Yup, that will appear in a paper and you will be known as the guy Max Ride cheated with. Enjoy your first taste of fame." I said bitterly, my swing had stopped almost completely by now.

Fang sighed and I heard his swing squeak as he got up. He pulled me from my swing and sat down on it, pulling me onto his lap. I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing my eyes shut and burying my head in the crook of his neck.

"I don't care what people say about me, Max." he whispered, his warm breath brushed against my neck, making me shiver. "I only care about what I know is true. What you know is true. We both know I was never Lissa's and never will be. We both know that you aren't a slut. That's all that matters. And the Flock will understand. They love you for who you are. Once they get over the shock I'm sure they'll be at your door to see that you're okay."

I felt the tears that had been stinging my eyes finally brim over and leak onto Fangs jacket.

"I guess it was too good to last." I admitted.

"Yeah, it was. But at least you got a good punch in at Lissa before you ran." He chuckled.

"That was good." I admitted. Then I remembered what the whole fight had been over to begin with. "Hey Fang?"

"Yeah?"

"I really liked your song. I'm sorry we ruined it."

"That's okay,"

"You'll have to play it for me again some time."

"I will."

"Fang?"

"Yeah?"

"I think it's time for me to get home."

**Dun, dun, dun! Oh what will Max do now? The world knows her secret! She can't hide behind the wig anymore! Will the Flock forgive her? So many questions! How will we find out what happens? Well the answer is simple: read and review!**

**Peace!**


	19. Chapter 19

**I love your reviews guys! Keep it up! The more reviews, the longer the chapter! Oh, and if my grammar sucks, I do apologize, I never was good at grammar so I'm relying on spelling/grammar check on Microsoft!**

**Two questions I have to answer from reviews:**

**One, what is PDA. PDA stands for Public Display of Affection. In other words...kissing. **

**Two, I named my turtle Edgar because I had a turtle before it and it was the color of Pistachios, so I named him that. Po for short. Well, Po ran away and I wanted another Po. Enter, Edgar. Except I think Edgar is a girl so I don't know what I'll do now...**

**ONWARD WITH THE STORY!**

**Disclaimer: If I wish hard enough will I actually own MR? **

Chapter 19

The sun cut across my room rousing me from my nonexistent sleep. I yawned and slid out of my bed, wishing nothing more than to crawl right back under the covers and hide from the world. The only grace I had today was that it was Sunday and I didn't have school today, though maybe if I had to go to school today it would be like ripping off a band aid, quick and painless, not having time to fester as it would today.

On second thought, there was no grace for me.

I shuffled over to my window and peeked through the curtains. And there they were.

Parked across the street from my house were the unmistakable white vans with satellite dishes attached to the roof and different news stations and newspaper companies printed on the sides.

The piranhas had arrived.

I wonder how Mom was handling it.

After Fang had left the park last night I'd come home to tell Mom the news. She'd been sort of stoic through the whole explanation, only scowling lightly at the fighting part. When I'd finally finished explaining she'd given me her best 'everything's going to be fine' look. I could tell that her heart wasn't in it.

She'd immediately called Mackie and warned him about the bad publicity to come as well as warning him to avoid any reporters wanting comments.

So many precautions had to be made because I'd done exactly what Fang had tried to prevent last night. Because I was too stubborn and hot tempered to do anything I was told. And because of that not only had I ruined the only reprieve from stardom, but the Flock hadn't spoken to me since last night.

I headed for the shower, doing my best to put off the inevitable: seeing the headlines. I spent a good twenty minute in the shower and another twenty minutes blow drying my hair (something I never do). I went back to my room, grabbed my dirty clothes hamper and went to start a load of laundry. I ambled around the kitchen, eating breakfast, then finally headed up to my room. After I made my bed (another thing I never do), I had put it off for an hour and a half.

Resigning myself to the fact I'd have to see it eventually, I turned my computer and opened to my homepage.

And there it was. Article after article of Max Ride and her secret gone awry.

I scanned the titles of the articles:

_**Popstar Pissed Off**_

_**Redhead Regreats altercation with Ride**_

_**A Diamond in the Ruff **_

Each article was as bad as the other. The first one included pictures of me tackling Lissa with my wig still on, then another with me punching her, my wig no longer in place. The second article had an actual video attached to it. I watched the fight from the start as Lissa slapped me, as I tackled her, as Fang led me away, how I got back to Lissa, how she ripped my wig off, and finally, how I broke her nose. I felt sick to my stomach as I read the final article:

_**A Diamond in the Ruff**_

_**By Nancy Narduci**_

_Looking on a map of Arizona, one hardly sees the small town of Navajo, located two hundred miles southeast of Phoenix. However, this small town must have something going for it because it caught the eye of worldwide superstar, Max Ride._

_Sources report that a month ago new student, Maximum Martinez, entered the school system. This average brunette was no different from others. She made friends and enemies. _

_Any person would think: simple town, simple girl. _

_How wrong they would be. _

_During the local high schools homecoming dance this past Saturday sources report that Maximum Martinez and a fellow student Lissa Cartweld started arguing during a performance of a local band: The Flock._

"_Lissa was egging Max on," a source says, "She was saying rude and incorrect things about her relationship with Fang, when in reality, Max is the one dating him." This source, along with several others, state explicitly that Miss Cartweld did indeed start the fight verbally as well as physically, hitting Miss Martinez first. _

_Though perhaps not within acceptable limits, Miss Martinez fought back, pinning her assailant to the floor. _

_Local boy Nicholas (also the object of the fight) pulled Miss Martinez off of Miss Cartweld and started to lead her away. _

_This would have been the end of the fight if not for Miss Cartweld's following comment of: "You're just a slut who steals other girls boyfriends for a good ride."_

_Miss Martinez, known for her temper at this point, rejoined the fight. During this renewed fight the unexpected happened. Miss Cartweld managed to grab a handful of Miss Martinez's hair._

"_It was all confusion for a moment. Then we all realized what had happened. I can't believe nobody noticed that Max Martinez was really Max Ride. Without the wig, she's unmistakable."_

_You read it correctly, Max Martinez is really Max Ride. Now, how did famous Max Ride end up in the small, nobody town of Navajo Arizona? Why was she there? The Martinez/Ride family was unavailable for comment but one thing is blatant: Navajo definitely held it own _Diamond in the Ruff.

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. Can nobody stop speculating on my life? They make it sound so much more interesting than it should be.

They should just have dropped it. Though I was thankful for her sources saying that Lissa was the one who started the fight as well as clearly stating that I was right, that Fang is mine, I still wished they would have stayed away from the reporters. They had no business telling people about my life. They knew nothing about me.

I shut my computer down, not wanting to read anymore. I curled up on my bed and tried to force myself to sleep.

However, sleep wouldn't come. I was dead tired from lack of sleep the night before but my mind wouldn't shut down and let me fall into oblivion.

After an hour of failed sleeping attempts I clicked on my television and settled in to watch old cartoons from when I was a kid.

I was watching Dexters Laboratory when my phone blared from the bed side table. The caller ID said Fang.

I clicked the send button and held my phone to my ear.

"Hey," I said quietly.

"Hey yourself." He answered. "Did you see the headlines?"

"Enough of them." I growled, gripping a handful of my sheets in a tight fist.

"They could be worse." He offered up.

"Not really. What do you want, Fang?" I sighed.

"Not me. The Flock wants to talk to you. Face to face." I bit my lip. I needed to fix things with the Flock, but I didn't know if I was ready to yet. I teased the fabric in my hands while I debated. Have them hear rumors before I could talk to them, or tell them the truth face to face and risk seeing the hurt on their faces. I didn't know if I could handle that on my own.

"I'll be there to help you." He offered, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

I sighed.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

"Then bring them over."

…

I debated putting my wig on for the Flock. I even had it in hand ready to secure it, when I decided to rip the band aid off from the beginning and tossed the wig aside, striding out of my room before I could rethink it.

I was at the staircase when the doorbell rang.

Mom answered the door. Loud questions and the sound of cameras clicking followed five harassed looking teenagers into the entrance hall.

I ducked down behind the rails of the stairs, watching as my mom shut the door on the paparazzi.

She turned to look at the Flock.

"Hey guys. Sorry about that." She said as she turned to face the Flock. "You tend to get used to it after a while. I'm so glad that you guys came over to talk. It's a long story, but she never meant to lie to you guys."

Mom generally handled stress well, but I heard the tension under her docile tones. I knew the Flock could too.

"That's okay Ms. Marti—" Nudge bit her lip. "Ms. Ride."

"It's still Martinez, Nudge." Mom assured her. "That was the truth."

"I'm confused." She sighed. "We all are."

"Well, not all of us," Iggy grumbled, shooting a blind look at Fang, who was standing off to the side of the Flock.

Mom ignored Iggy and said: "Its…well, it's a long story. And it's not my story to tell." She admitted.

"It's mine." I sighed, standing up from my hiding spot on the stairs.

Five sets of eyes lock immediately on my eyes. One locks on my right eyebrow.

Mom nodded. "Why don't you guys go up to Max's room? I'll take care of the vultures." She gestured to the front door at the same time she nudged the Flock towards the stairs.

The Flock froze for a moment, not moving an inch. Then Fang detached from the group and came up the stairs to stand next to me.

"Come on, guys," he sighed. "It really is an interesting story. Give her a chance to explain."

He slipped his hand into my own and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Ella was the first to move. She took a tentative step towards the stairs, dragging Iggy by their conjoined hands. I held my breath as I waited for her to start yelling, throwing things, or worse, turn around and leave without speaking to me.

I wouldn't blame her. I'd lied to her, to all of them. I'd made up lie after lie to cover something that I should have just told them to begin with.

I'd be pissed at me too, if I were them.

The silence stretched and I was feeling awkward. I was just about to tell them they could leave when Ella tore her hand from Iggy's and ran up the stairs. She had me in a bone crushing hug before I could blink.

"God, Max." She gasped. "After last night's fight we were so worried about you. I mean, fighting with Lissa was enough, but after what happened….god. We would have never guessed all this. Why didn't you just tell us?"

I relaxed into her hug and squeezed her back. She wasn't mad at me. She was confused, but not mad. Suddenly I could breathe again.

I gave her a wiry smile. "Come on up to my room and I'll explain everything." I offered. The rest of the Flock filed up the stairs, each of them stopping to hug me as they passed.

Suddenly we were back in my room and all attention was on me, waiting for my story. I took a deep breath and began.

**Okay, so I apologize in advanced but my updates are going to slow a bit. Its not that I don't want to write (because trust me, I do) but junior year is kicking my ass and with midterms coming up...well, I have a boat load of homework. _But weekends are devoted to you guys so keep checking in_! Just do me a favor and R&R. The more reviews I get the more motivated I am to write! **

**Peace! **


	20. Chapter 20

**Hopefully this chapter clears any questions you have about Max's past and why she's so careful about her identity! Read on!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does. And I thank god that he does because nobody else could do it any justice! WE LOVE YOU JP! **

Chapter 20

_Suddenly we were back in my room and all attention was on me, waiting for my story. I took a deep breath and began. _

"It's simple really. I have always loved to sing. I used to sing in school performances when I was little. As I grew up I started to sing more on my own. I taught myself guitar too.

"My dad owned a restaurant, and every night was karaoke night. I'd always go up and sing a song before the night was over. One day, two years ago, Mackie was there. I didn't even notice him until I caught him talking to Dad. Right after they finished talking, Dad suggested I go sing. I wasn't suspicious or anything, Dad always asked me to sing.

"I remember what I sang that night. It was Break Away. I always loved that song. Mackie came up to me after I was done performing and strait out said that he wanted me to record a demo. He asked me if I had a band and I told him about the kids I sometimes played with.

"All of the sudden we're all at Mackie's studio recording a demo. Do you guys remember how fast it went? Mackie listened to your music on Wednesday and then Friday you were recording. It was crazy for me. But my dad was there. He made it all fun and games.

"The next thing I know, I have a CD out. I didn't think that much of it because hundreds of bands get out a first CD but never go anywhere with it. So I was surprised when I started getting phone calls, emails, and people randomly started showing up at my door.

"Within the first three months of my CD being out it went viral. People had it online, I had millions of hits on my website…it was….insane. When I recorded that demo with Mackie, I never put much thought into the fact that I could be famous. I just wanted to make music.

"People that I'd never talked to at school suddenly wanted to be my best friend. They wanted to hang out with me, go to parties, come over my house, go shopping…anything that would give them a chance to get photographed with a celebrity.

"I ignored most of it, but there was this one girl I'd always been friends with, Lizzie, and she was the only person I could trust."

I took a shuddering breath and continued.

"It was April seventeenth, six months after my CD arrived on shelves. My music had gone up on the charts, people wouldn't leave me alone. I couldn't walk out of my house without being bombarded. I dropped out of public school in favor of homeschooling. I couldn't stand being used for fame.

"All I wanted was a quiet night at home with my parents and Lizzie. I wanted ice cream and we were out. My dad offered to go get some at the store. It was only around the corner, he would be back in a few minutes."

I took another shuddering breath and went on, omitting the part where I went with him to the store.

"The thing about paparazzi, is that they are always looking for a story. All they need are a few pictures and an imagination. They followed Dad to the store. He tried to lose them. He went straight past the store and onto the highway.

"They followed him."

I flashed back to that night. Dad pressing harder on the accelerator, me pressed against my seat, gripping the edges as the speedometer read 90 miles per hour. Me yelling at Dad to stop, I'd face the damn piranhas and get it over with. He wouldn't stand for it. I remembered exiting off the ramp, the yield sign that the semi blew. I remembered the bright lights and the pain…

"The accident wasn't Dads fault. He had the right away but the semi was going too fast to stop. They crashed. Dad died instantly.

"We didn't know how they paparazzi got wind of him going to the store. They weren't allowed within one hundred and fifty yards of the house, and Dad went out the back way. They shouldn't have known he was going out. But it had been happening for weeks. The press started getting information about me that they couldn't possibly get from watching me. Information that I had only ever told the people closest to me.

"It was Lizzie. For weeks she'd been giving them information about me. She was being paid off. She called the press and told them Dad was going out. It's her fault he's dead.

"We moved after that, but moving doesn't change people. Where ever I go people want to be my friend for two reasons: fame and fortune, or to get a record deal out of me. It's easier to stop trying to make friends and stick to the people you rely on.

"My Mom, Mackie, Chrissie, and my band, they were the only people I could call friends. But it was my senior year. I wanted to go to school. I wanted to experience a normal senior year without the pop star drama. I wanted real friends who liked me for who I am, not who knows me.

"So I convinced Mom to come here. I'd heard about Navajo when I was in Phoenix on tour last year. It seemed like a perfect little town to hide in. Besides I _hate_ the cold."

Fang chuckled beside me. I elbowed him and continued on.

"I put on the wig and adopted my mom's maiden name: Martinez. The change hair color and the name were just enough to keep people from realizing who I really am.

"I didn't know I'd meet such great people." I stressed looking at each member of the Flock. Ella and Nudge were crying and holding each other. Gazzy was trying not to cry and Iggy was, well, being Iggy, and doing something suspicious to my alarm clock. Fang had an arm around my waist and was holding me close to him.

"I didn't want to lie to you guys but I couldn't figure out how to tell you, then I figured out you guys liked my music and it got a little awkward, and then I just kept making up excuses."

"You told Fang." Iggy pointed out.

"No, I didn't. Fang found out."

"How?" Ella sniffed.

"He doesn't wait for anyone to answer a door before he barges in."

"What, did he catch you naked?" Iggy snickered.

"No, that was almost you, Ig." I snapped. He blushed and shut up. Actually, the whole Flock, with the exception of Fang who was smirking, blushed.

"Fang caught me without the wig." I admitted.

"And she was singing." Fang interjected. "Dead giveaway."

"Wow, Max." Nudge finally burst. "That's an awful story! I mean, it's great that you got to sing and everything but, do you really hate being famous so much? I mean, it has done a lot of bad things but do you really hate it?"

"NO!" I waved my hands around frantically, like if I moved them enough, they would clear up the confusion. "I _love _certain parts of it! The traveling, getting to meet so many people, getting to see all of the people that my music touches… there are some amazing things that come with the pop star territory, it's just that I've had equally _bad_ experiences."

"Oh," Nudge seemed mollified. "Okay then."

Just then there was a knocking at the door downstairs. I heard my mom answer it. There was yelling, then the door being slammed. The yelling continued outside.

The Flock and I rushed to the window in time to see my mom stalking across the lawn waving her arms and yelling at the paparazzi, who started packing up their things and getting in their vans.

"Your mom is awesome, Max," Ella chuckled. I nodded in agreement as Mom started to head back to the house.

"You know, Max," Gazzy said, speaking for the first time. "This house isn't at all what you'd think a rock star house would look like. "Aren't you, like, rich?"

I blushed slightly. "Well, yeah," I admitted. "But I don't need a bigger house. It's only me and Mom, this house has plenty of room as it is. I don't need, or want, a bigger house."

"Oh, I was just wondering, because I thought all rock stars have a completely decked out house."

I smirked as I thought of something.

"Do you guys want to see my basement?"

**Well, what do you think? It's a filler chapter but I think its important Max's past from her point of view, not just Fangs. Read and Review! **

**Peace! **


	21. Chapter 21

**So I'm enlisting you, my avid readers, for help on a song. A duet to be more specific. I know that leads to some insight of what will happen later in the story but, lets be honest, who didn't see that coming? Anyway, I need suggestions on a duet. I have one in mind, but I don't think it's good enough. Please help a girl out! Many thanks! Now, you may continue reading. **

**Disclaimer: If wishes were nickels I'd have enough money to buy MR from JP. Just sayin'…**

Chapter 21

"What's so great about a basement?" Iggy demanded as I led them down the stairs.

I scoffed at him but I kept going.

Iggy groaned. "I bet Fang knows what's down there." He muttered. "He knows _everything _before us. Only because he's dating the rock star…" his mumbles cut off as Ella wacked him upside the head.

"Actually no." I said pointedly, leading them through the kitchen. "No outsider has ever seen the basement. You guys will be the first. Well, except for you Iggy, sorry bud, but you can't see."

He ignored my jibe and said: "Really? You haven't seen it? She's held out on you too? Damn, what's down there?"

"You'll find out." I smirked. Mom was in the kitchen, she gave us a questioning look.

"I'm showing them the basement." I explained.

She gave me a knowing smile and nodded. "I'm making cookies," she gestured to the oven where a heavenly smell was coming from . "I'll bring some down when their done."

I beamed at her and headed to the basement. I grabbed the key off the wall and opened the door.

"You lock your basement?" Gazzy demanded. "This is going to be good."

I gestured them in ahead of me and they stalked single file down the stairs, me bringing up the rear.

"I can't see!" Ella complained.

"Really? Neither can I!" Iggy shouted. There was a muted 'oof' and I knew Ella got her retribution.

I silently counted to three and flipped the light switch on.

There were immediate gasps of amazement. I smiled. My basement turned music room, was kick ass.

The entire room was soundproof. Vibrant colors atoned the walls which alternated between electric blue, neon green and orange, and electric yellow. It was crazy, but it was fun, and inspiring.

On the left wall there was a stage set up for practicing, on the stage resided a grand piano with a demanding presence. On the far wall there were microphones, guitars (electric and acoustic), bases, two drum sets, a violin, a cello, and a keyboard. The right wall was covered with my albums, awards, and pictures of me with other celebrities. There was also a door that led to my other closet. The one with all of my expensive clothes and gifts that I'd received but would never wear.

The Flock stood frozen as they stared at a musician's heaven. Finally Iggy couldn't stand it.

"What? What am I missing? The blind guy always finds out last! It's so not fair!"

"Oh _man _Ig!" Gazzy gasped. "This is crazy!" he leaned close to Iggy and started describing the room. Iggy was nodding his head, absorbing every detail.

"Cool! So, it's, like, your inner sanctum!" Iggy yelled as he finally came to understand our surroundings.

"If you call it that again, Ig, you will regret it." I hissed at him while Fang scoffed by my side.

"How about, I won't call it that again if you let me play your drums?" he offered.

I pretended to think for a minute. "Okay," I agreed. "Deal."

"Sweet!" he crowed and headed right up to the drums and started playing them. Nobody had even told him how to get to the drums. Iggy could be a little unnerving sometimes…

"Max, this is so cool!" Nudge burst. "And I thought my room was cool, but this…this…oh wow. I've _never _been at a loss for words. You know that, but this," she shook her head. "Is awesome! Can I play the piano?" she begged.

I nodded. "Feel free. You guys can use whatever you want."

"Yes!" Ella and Nudge screeched and ran for their appointed instruments. Gazzy followed at a slower pace, taking in everything as he went.

Once they were distracted Fang wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me back against his chest.

"This is amazing." He whispered in my ear. "You have so many instruments down here."

"Only the ones I know how to play." I corrected, loving the feeling of his lips at my ear, of his arms around me, of his solid body pressed against me…

"You play every instrument down here?" he demanded quietly.

I nodded. "Yup," I popped the 'p'.

"Impressive." He pressed his lips just below my ear, making me shiver. I felt his lips pull into a grin against my skin. He liked making me react like that. Truth be told, I loved how he _made _me react like that.

"Yeah, totally," I rolled my eyes. "I could be a one woman band."

He chuckled. "I'd pay to see that."

I elbowed him in the stomach. He barely reacted to that…stupid six pack.

"That's not nice, Maxi," his voice was dangerously low. I knew I was in trouble.

"No, Fang, NO!" I screeched as he attacked me. "Oh, please, _please STOP IT!_" I wheezed between fits of laughter as he tickled my sides. Somehow I ended up on the floor and he hovered over me, fingers expertly finding my most ticklish spots.

"Yo! Will you two stop flirting over there! It's disgusting." Iggy shouted over my laughter and the Flocks playing.

"You can't see to say its disgusting Ig!" Fang yelled, not breaking from his continuous assault on me. I couldn't breathe, I was laughing too hard.

"Well I can hear it!" Iggy shouted in reply.

"Please!" I gasped, tears running down my face, which by now was tomato red. "I…I c-can't b-b-breathe!" I attempted to slap Fangs hands away from me.

He stopped tickling me in order to grab my wrists. He pulled me to my feet and into his chest. I gasped trying to catch my breath while Fang chuckled quietly.

"Idiot," I muttered once I got my breath back.

He smiled, a hundred watt Fang smile that made my heart flutter.

Fang let go of me. I immediately missed his arms around me. But he gravitated towards the right wall with the awards and pictures.

He looked at pictures of me standing next to bands like Green Day, Good Charlotte, Three Days Grace, My Chemical Romance, All Time Low, NeverShoutNever; to pictures of me next to hosts like Oprah, Ellen (That Ellen was a quick wit with comebacks. She almost matched my smart ass ability), Regis and Kelly, and the View.

"Wow," he said after a few minutes. "Did you really meet Bono?"

"Yup." I nodded, looking at the picture of me and Bono from last year at the Hard Rock Café in New York City. "He's pretty cool."

"I'd bet he is." he sounded off.

"Are you okay?" I asked, turning to look at him.

"Yeah, it's just…you've done so much. These pictures and awards, they make me realize how amazing you really are." I felt my eyes widen as I blushed fire engine red. "Of course, I already knew you were pretty damn amazing." He smirked at me.

I looked away. I never was good at emotions.

"Now, that's something about you that's very interesting." He continued. "You are a super star who gets continuously praised by people but when I say something like I did, you blush and act all nervous. Isn't that weird?" he smiled lightly.

"There's a difference between praise on what you do and on your character itself. Which one do you think I'm more accustom to?" I said, feeling the need to defend myself.

"I guess so." He smiled. "I like it. You always keep me guessing."

"Hey Max!" Ella interrupted our moment. I wanted to throttle her while at the same time thank her. Aren't teenage relationships and emotions so screwed up?

"Yeah, Ells?" I turned to see her and Nudge by the door to my closet.

"What's in here?" she gestured to the purple painted door.

I smiled, suddenly eager to see their reactions to the mini store that is my closet.

"Go see for yourselves." I gestured them in. The pulled open the doors at the same moment I told Fang: "Cover your ears." While I covered my own.

"Why?" he asked, foolishly not covering his ears.

There were eardrum shattering screams from inside the closet. Fang winced.

"That's why." I said smartly, while listening to the "Oh my god, oh my god, ohmygodohmygod_ohmygod_!" coming from within the closet.

Suddenly the girls barreled out of the closet, clutching articles of clothing, shoes, purses, and jewelry from within.

"Max, oh my god this stuff is amazing! Why do you never wear it? Where did you get it? Oh my god is that Dolce and Gabbana ? Can I borrow this?" Nudge shrieked

"Uh, I don't like this stuff so I don't wear it. They were gifts or from music videos. Yes and yes you can borrow whatever you want. Have it if you like, I won't use any of it."

"Seriously? Oh thank you Max!" They both tackled me in a hug before running back into the closet.

"You just made their dreams come true." Gazzy observed, coming to stand beside us. In the background I heard Iggy still playing on the drums.

"I'm happy to help!" I said in a preppy/sarcastic voice. "Mackie actually got me a lot of that stuff." I smirked. "That's what he thinks I should wear. I'm happy to pass it onto his newest stars. He'll be happy to finally have girls to dress up. Do yourselves a favor and never shop with him; you'll try on half the store!" **(Haha thanks ****Fang's-Crazy-Twin-Sister****, I loved your explanation! And I totally agree. Actually, Mackie's personality is based off of my best friend in the entire world, and you are exactly right!) **

Fang and Gazzy shuttered. "Duly noted." Gazzy said and headed into the closet, to get Nudge I assumed.

Just then an amazing smell wafted down to the music room.

"Cookies!" My mom yelled from the top of the stairs.

I turned to Fang and smirked. "I'll race you."

I took off before he could answer.

**Read and Review! Don't forget those duet suggestions! **

**Peace! **


	22. Chapter 22

**Phew! Eight pages on Microsoft word! I believe this is the second longest chapter I've written! **

**Disclaimer: I do not claim**

Chapter 22

"Are you sure you want to go?" Mom asked for the millionth time. "I wouldn't blame you if you want to skip."

"For the millionth time, Mom, its better if I get it over with. I'm the same person they've known for a month, they'll figure that out soon enough. I'm really not that exciting; they'll get over it quickly." I was trying to convince myself as much as I was trying to convince her.

Mom didn't look so sure but she nodded, knowing that there was no way she could persuade me not to go. I was just that stubborn.

I looked in the mirror again to make sure my hair laid flat and wasn't the rats nest I expected it to be after a night of tossing and turning. It looked fine, just like it had two minutes ago. I swear I was turning into Nudge with these mirror checks. I obstinately turned my back on the mirror and waited for the Flock.

It was agreed that I would ride to school with them, an entire group of body guards. As stupid and pointless as I saw that to be, I loved them for being so thoughtful. I just wished it would actually stop the paparazzi…

There were three swift raps of a fist against our door. I quickly slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and looked through the side window before opening it and letting the Flock pile through the doorway.

"Ohmigosh this is it! You get to go to school and show off who you are! Everyone's going to think you're so cool, and _Lissa _oh I just can't wait to see her! She's probably regretting all of that messing with you now that _you _can ruin her credibility. You can so take all of that harassment and tell her to shove it up her—"

"NUDGE!" Even my mom jumped in on yelling at her.

She looked at us sheepishly. "Sorry, I got carried away." She mumbled blushing as Gazzy grew her close to his side.

"It's okay. Though I hardly doubt she's going to regret anything." I said skeptically.

"She'll probably believe anything she did while the wig was on was done to another person. You're a clean slate." Iggy added Ella nodding at his side.

"Well that delusion only goes one way because she's still Lissa and nothing is going to change that." I said adamantly. The others nodded in concurrence.

"If you guys are going I suggest you leave now." Mom added lightly. "It may take you longer than usual to get to school."

They nodded and shuffled out of the house.

Technically this was my first time leaving the house since my secret was blown. I say technically because last night around two a.m. after I gave up on sleeping I'd snuck out to my back yard for some fresh air. However, I hadn't left the porch and I'd gone in after a minute.

There was a reason I hadn't braved it before this. As soon as the Flock stepped out we were bombarded. Iggy and Gazzy led us, followed by me with Nudge and Ella on both sides, and Fang bringing up the rear. Cameras flashed, microphones were shoved in our faces, and questions were asked. We pushed forward and I wondered in the back of my mind if I couldn't sue these vultures for trespassing and harassment. Heck, couldn't I throw stalking in there if I was afraid to leave my house without confrontation?

Oh well!

The Tahoe was in front of us and Iggy and Gazzy piled in. Fang put his hands on my waist and practically threw me into the car as he followed, shutting the door behind him. Nudge and Ella had taken up their places in the front seats and Iggy had slid over the back of the seat and into the third row.

The locks were clicked and Nudge started her car, revving the engine so the people knew to get out of her way before she backed right over them.

The Flock seemed to relax slightly once we were moving. I, on the other hand, tensed up because I knew that school would be just as bad, if not worse.

_Well Max, how exactly could it get any worse? _A snide sarcastic voice asked in the back of my head. _Well obviously because there are students who you have gotten to know for the past month that have quite a few juicy stories to share with the press while they loiter around. _I thought back, just as sarcastically. That's when I realized I was talking to myself and that it probably wasn't a good thing. I chalked it up to the stress of the past few days.

"You okay?" Fang asked quietly.

"Yeah…" I whispered back.

"You don't sound so sure," he pushed a strand of hair behind my ear and rested his palm at my throat. "Your heart is racing."

Stupid no good pulse point giving me away! Grr…

"It's just—"

"Oh dear lord!" Nudge exclaimed from the front seat. Heads whipped up to see what had gotten her attention.

Vans and other automobiles lined the street in either direction of the school, kids and teenagers stood on the sidewalks intermingling with the press, holding up signs professing their love for me.

"…that." I said grimly. "Just get into the parking lot, Nudge." I instructed her. "Once we're there we'll make a run for it. We'll be safe when we get to the steps, the press won't be able to enter the school without express permission."

She nodded determinedly and wove through the onslaught of people who were reaching out trying to touch her car. How the hell did they even know I was in here? The windows were tinted and I was slunk down into my seat.

"Oh I don't like this…no they better move…HEY! That idiot just tried to touch my car! I'm driving you crazy loon… This thing is like the Mother Ship, it does _not _stop on a dime! I swear to god if you run out in front of me…Oh you _jerk! _Oh! I hope I just ran over your toes!"

I snickered along with everyone else at Nudges antics. Finally Nudge was able to park her 'Mother Ship'. Everyone seemed to pause, afraid of going out into the mob that started surrounding the car.

"Guys, it's not going to get any easier." I admitted, pulling my messenger bag from the ground and readying myself to go out again. They reacted to my preparations and gathered their own belongings before shoving the doors open.

Gathering in the same positions as before we made our way slowly from the car. Comments flew through the air at rapid speed, so much so that I only caught half of what they said.

"Max! What were you thinking when you put on the wig?"

"Max why did you come here?"

"Who is Lissa Cartweld to you?"

"Why did you fight with Ms. Cartweld?"

"Tell us your story!"

"Does the wig mean you don't want to be famous anymore?"

"Max does this mean the end of Max Ride?"

I froze. The comments were too much. Usually I could handle them, but I really did need to clear things up. If I didn't give any comment it could be taken for worse than if I just faced the crowd.

"Guys stop." I told the Flock. Fang bumped into me as I stopped short. The others did too.

"What's wrong Max?" Ella asked her hand on my arm.

"Just let me talk to them for a second."

"Are you sure?" That was Fang. I nodded. We were only a few steps from the school. I would do this quickly and get in the school before anything else could happen.

They moved out of my way so I was facing the cameras.

"I decided I wanted a normal senior year. I came to Navajo because it seemed like the perfect place to start over. Hear me clearly: I love singing and I love my fans. The only reason I dawned the wig to begin with is because every time I step out of my house I am attacked by people wanting to get the latest story on me. You people make it impossible for me to go to the store let alone school. So yeah, I put on the wig. And for one month, everything was perfect. I still got to go to concerts but I also got to go to school. I'm not abandoning my career. I will always want to be Max Ride, but I need some normalcy too."

I turned my back on them and headed into the school without another glance back.

…

The sea of students stilled as the Flock entered the school. Eyes raked over us curiously, eager to see the person who was stirring up all this excitement in the small town of Navajo.

I kept my head held high as I headed towards my locker.

The Flock followed close by.

"You guys should get your things so you aren't late to class." I told them. "I'm inside the school now, I'll be fine."

"I'm not so sure about that," Ella muttered, casting a cursory glance around the hallway where the kids stayed to the side, like wild cats hide in the dark, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.

"You can't protect me forever. I can handle myself. Besides, Fang is in my first class. I'll be fine. Now go." I said firmly, glaring at them until they reluctantly headed their separate ways.

"They're just trying to help." Fang said, as he leaned against the locker next to mine, watching me swap out my books.

"I know, but I'm a big girl. I can handle myself." I said indigently.

"Just because you _can _doesn't mean you _have _to." He said, lightly trailing his fingers down my cheek.

I shuddered at his touch.

"I know."

"As long as you do," he assured me. "But Max," he smirked at me. "I _know _you can handle yourself."

I didn't have time to puzzle that one out because the warning bell reverberated through the hallway and we rushed to get to first period.

…..

The teachers did a pretty good job of trying to keep the classes attention throughout the day, though even they had their struggles.

_Flashback:_

_The final bell rang just as Fang and I slipped through the door into English class. The entire class turned around to watch us as we made our way to our seats. _

_Mr. Carn took attendance, calling me Miss Martinez, which I was very grateful for. Of course, not everyone got the memo._

_Lissa had to raise her hand and point out Mr. Carns 'mistake'._

"_Mr. Carn? You messed up Max's name. It's _Ride _not _Martinez._" She said in a sickly sweet voice. _

_I glared at her and opened my mouth to tell her that she needed to be quiet when Mr. Carn said "Actually Miss Cartweld, my attendance clearly says _Martinez._ If that was incorrect I'm sure Max would have corrected me by now. I appreciate your concern, but you need to let it be." I bit my lip to keep from laughing as Lissa got _burned _by our _sixty something year old English teacher._ That made my day._

_End Flashback._

The only difference between English and Chemistry is that in English, when kids don't pay attention, they don't risk spilling dangerous chemicals all over the place.

_Begin another Flashback:_

"_Dude, everyone's totally staring at you." Iggy informed me._

"_Thank you blind genius, I had _no _idea. Thanks for pointing it out." I said sarcastically._

"_Just doing my job as a good Samaritan!" he gave me a slight bow. _

_I rolled my eyes than realized the action was lost on him. "I'm rolling my eyes, Ig." I informed him. _

_Just then there was crashing noise and a scream. _

_We whipped around in time for me to see green liquid rolling off of the black lab table behind us, while one girl tried to disconnect that gas from the Bunsen burner they'd let get too hot (allowing the beaker full of chemical they'd been working with explode) and her partner patted the hot liquid on her clothes, whimpering as the hot chemical burned her clothes. _

"_Everyone stay calm!" Ms. Kelly called, hitting the emergency gas disconnect button and running towards the flailing girl. _

"_Miss Burke this way," she calmly led the girl to the biohazard shower and pulled the triAngel. Water poured down on the girl and she shrieked. "Its cold!" _

"_Its better than burning chemical. What happened." Ms. Kelly demanded. _

"_I-I-I," _

"_They were too busy staring at Max to pay attention." A boy from the group next to her's said. _

"_Oh like you were doing any better!" she snapped back. The boy blushed, and so did I."_

_End Flashback:_

But lunch was by far the worst.

_Last Flashback, I swear:_

_Ella, Nudge, and I made our way through the lunch line and headed towards our usual table. We got about halfway there before we realized it was completely full. _

_Something that _never _happened. And guess who was sitting at our table. _

_Go ahead, guess. _

_Don't feel like it? Too lazy? We all know, so why bother guessing? _

_Yeah, well I'll tell you._

_Lissa and her posse that's who._

_I mean, _seriously!_ What is up with that girl? _

_I think she was dropped on her head when she was little. That or she's spent too much time huffing nail polish remover. _

_Fang, Iggy, and Gazzy were there too, staring at them in disbelief and disgust. Well, Iggy and Gazzy were, Fang just sat there like an emotionless rock. _

"_Um, who's up for sitting…anywhere else but there?" I asked._

"_Me," Ella and Nudge said instantly._

_Just then Fang looked up to meet our gazes. One look and he understood. He motioned to Gazzy, who tapped Iggy's hand twice and they got up to join us. _

_The people from our table started to get up and follow them so we picked up speed and headed out of there as fast as possible. _

"_Can you believe her?" Gazzy demanded as we wound our way through the hallways, looking for an empty classroom. "She's a bitch to you one minute and then your 'bestest friend in the whole world' the next." He said, imitating Lissa's shrill, ear piercing voice perfectly. It was very scary. I actually did a 360 to make sure Lissa wasn't around. _

"_That was too good, Gazzy," I informed him. "Here's a classroom." I motioned with my free hand, and we slipped into a classroom with math posters all over the walls. _

_We settled down and started eating lunch._

"_Today's been so weird!" Nudge burst out after a few minutes. "I mean, kids I don't even _know _come up to me and act all buddy-buddy or just skip the act and ask me question about you!" I stiffened. I had told them so much; I didn't want anything I'd said to them getting out. "Oh, don't worry!" she assured me, "I didn't tell them anything! I was all 'we'll if you want to know that about her, ask her yourself,' or 'Max is a good person, you should leave her alone, stop trying to dig up dirt on her,' or even 'no, Max does not have a twin sister who has been going to school instead of her'. I mean, what were they thinking! But I didn't tell them anything, promise!"_

"_I believe you, Nudge, thanks. And I'm sorry, all of you. This is a lot to deal with."_

"_Don't worry, Max. It comes with the territory." Ella assured me. "We'll get used to it. But we need some normal friend time too; we should have another movie night. Tonight, I don't care that it's a Monday. What do you guys say?"_

_End Flashback._

So that's where we were now, at Nudge's and Fang's house for a movie night.

Nudge parked in the garage so we could go straight into the house, avoiding a lot of hassle.

"Mom, Dad, Angel, we're home!" Nudge yelled as we walked into the kitchen.

Mr. and Mrs. Walker were in there cooking dinner. They looked up at the Flock and smiled. "Hey guys," Mrs. Walker said. Her eyes rested on me. "You've stirred up quite a bit of excitement, haven't you Max?" she gave me a motherly smile.

"I can't seem to avoid it." I admitted, blushing slightly. She just laughed. Mrs. Walker was an average height and build kind of woman with blond hair, blue eyes, and a warm smile. Her husband was likewise in profile. They were both very nice; I could see why Fang and Nudge loved them so much.

"MAX!" a blur of blond hair streaked towards me and then Angel jumped into my arms.

"Oof!" I gasped as she propelled us two steps back. "Hey, goofball!" I ruffled her hair and she laughed.

"Max why didn't you tell me who you were? I mean, I saw you at your concert! You couldn't have told me then?" she gave me Bambi eyes. Something I hadn't even known existed until I met her and Nudge. I was a sucker for them now.

"I'm sorry Angel. I didn't tell anybody!" I bent my head to her ear and whispered. "I wanted to tell you though. You would have been the first to know!"

She giggled. "I believe you. Well, you would have told Fang first. He did know first, even if you didn't mean for him to find out." I looked over her head at Fang, who just shrugged. Man of many words…

"Well, you would have been the first person I _meant _to tell." I'm pretty sure that's the truth too. I would have told Angel because she would have given me an unbiased opinion. She knew me as Max Ride, and Max Martinez, but she didn't know me too much as either one.

"That's good. Hey! I really, really, _really _loved the message you wrote me!" she exclaimed as I let her down onto the kitchen floor.

"I mean it too." I assured her. "Believing in your dreams makes all the difference. And you _will _go far some day."

She blushed.

"Alright! What movie are we watching!" Iggy exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

We spent the next few hours lounging around the home theater watching movies as diverse as Shrek **(Don't knock it! It's a classic!) **to Paranormal Activity, which had me in Fangs lap by the end (something I wasn't _at all _opposed to).

Fang kissed my forehead lightly as the lights came on. I looked around at my friends. Iggy was holding a sleepy Ella and Gazzy and Nudge were quietly talking. It was at that moment that I knew, everything was going to be alright.

**See that little button down there at the bottom of the page? Well, go ahead and push it, it won't bite….though I might if you don't review! Its officially Winter Break! Lets see how much I can update the next two weeks! **

**Peace! **


	23. Chapter 23

**Thanks for all the reviews everyone! This next chapter may seem OCC but I love this chapter! And it happens to be my longest one yet, at ten pages in Microsoft Word! **

**Anywho…**

**New Chapter! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR, this disclaimer just rubs it in my face **

Chapter 23

After that first hectic week, things slowed down. It wasn't a struggle to get out of the house or drive to school, no kids burned themselves with chemicals…okay, _not true, _Iggy did manage to make a supposedly not dangerous chemical explode, coating all the students within a two yard radius (except me, because I had the intelligence to _duck_), but the accident wasn't caused by _me, _which was counted.

Lissa, however, still tried to get on my good side. After a few weeks of her pretending, I just couldn't take it anymore.

She tried to act like we were best friends, she even _talked to reporters. _Something that, if she really was a friend of mine, she'd know was a big no-no in my book.

"Yo, Cartwelder!" I called after school on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving break. Lissa looked up, with pathetic eagerness, to where I stood with the Flock.

The Flock, unlike Lissa, was not eager to be near me in my foul mood. Of course, if you'd just read an article this morning about all the late night sleepovers and shopping sprees you spend with your mortal enemy, sharing deep, intimate secrets, _that she told the reporter, _you'd be in a pretty foul mood too.

"What's up Maxie?" she asked as she approached me with her normal posse.

"Why did you talk to that reporter?" I demanded, towering over her with an impressive glare. She actually gulped and stepped back, into one of her cronies I might add.

"Just thought I'd let the world in on a little Max Ride secret is all. It doesn't hurt anyone to know that you hang out with friends. That you trust people."

"No, it doesn't hurt _them,_ but I _will _hurt _you_ for making them think that _you _are one of those people." I hissed. Confusing, right?

"I don't know what you're talking about." She huffed.

"Well, let's see. How about I go up to a reporter and tell them that you told me when you were little you used to have bad dreams about Barney on television. All of those dreams where Barney was your personal Godzilla and terrorized you, how you used to wet your bed and sleep with a nightlight and every time you see Barney to this day you wet your pants? How about I tell them that?"

She gaped at me in horror. "That is _so _not true!" she trilled while the Flock let out unrestrained laughter behind me.

"Yeah, well how true do you think my irrational fear of _bunnies _is?" I snapped at her. She smirked slightly.

Yes, bunnies. According to the news article from this morning, I'd confided in Lissa, a dark secret of my past that gave me an irrational fear of little cotton tailed _Thumpers. _

"Well, everyone has a secret. For all I knew, yours could have been bunnies." She smiled. "I had to do something. You need to share a personal detail for people to believe you."

Ah, there was the old Lissa, only looking for what got her most noticed.

"Stay away from the press Lissa, or so help me god, I'll break that nose of yours so bad you'll have to go get it done, _again." _

She let out an indignant huff and searched for a comeback. She struggled for a few moments before settling with: "Well, not everyone needs to worship the ground you walk on!"

"That's funny," I said, staring directly in to her yucky, pond water green eyes. "Because that's exactly what you were doing at my concert now, wasn't it Lissa? Oh and how did you like that autograph?"

She blushed deep red while the remaining students in the hall erupted in laughter. Fang wrapped his arm around my waist and I leaned back into him, content. I'd won this battle, no questions asked.

Lissa gave me one more loathing look. "You'll regret this Maximum." She threatened before walking away, posse in tow.

"I'm so sure." I scoffed.

…..

"Hey Mackie!" I smiled, opening the door and letting him in my house. "Hey Chuck!" I smiled at Mackie's partner.

Chuck Wong was a tall, Asian man around thirty five years old. I'd known him almost as long as I'd known Mackie except I didn't get to see him as much.

I hugged him now and smiled at him. "I haven't seen you in months." I complained.

"I know, it's been depressing without your spirit!" he admitted.

"Flattery will get you everywhere." I informed him with a smile.

"Don't I know it! Now, where's that gorgeous mother of yours?"

"In the kitchen Chuck!" Mom called. "Are you going to make your cranberry sauce for us this year?"

Thanksgiving with Mackie and Chuck had become a tradition these past two years. Ever since Dad died two people at a Thanksgiving table hadn't been enough. Thank god for Mackie and Chuck, they'd helped us through the holidays. Christmas too, because they didn't have any family of their own. We were substitutes for each other.

"Of course Valencia. Where would we be without it?" he asked heading for the kitchen. I looked at Mackie. He was as horrible in the kitchen as I was, which, believe me, was saying something.

"Want to go watch the Parade?" I asked him. The Macy's Day Parade was a tradition between the two of us. Well, saying we watched it is the real tradition. We always end up doing something else. But it's the attempt that matters!

"Of course. Lead the way; I haven't been in this house yet."

I led him to the living room and we settled in for the parade. True to our tradition we got about twenty minutes into it before I couldn't sit still any longer.

"Hey Mackie!" I suddenly exclaimed. He jumped from where he was perched on the couch. "I totally forgot! I wrote a new song! Want to hear it?" I asked eagerly.

"Absolutely!"

He followed me through the kitchen, where Mom and Chuck were busy making dinner (it smelt delicious!) and headed to the music studio.

"Good god girl, it looks like a box of Crayola threw up down here." Mackie complained, looking distastefully at my walls.

"It's called color, Mackie, I'd think you'd appreciate it."

"There's such a thing as too much color."

"Bologna!" I scoffed, heading for my guitar. Anyone who didn't know the dynamics of my and Mackie's relationship would think we were fighting; however, this was our way of messing around. We didn't take any of it to heart.

"Okay, let's hear this masterpiece!" he said, settling down into a lounge chair. I started playing without any further encouragement.

**(Anything But Ordinary by Avril Lavigne)**

_Sometimes I get so weird__  
__I even freak myself out__  
__I laugh myself to sleep__  
__It's my lullaby__  
__Sometimes I drive so fast__  
__Just to feel the danger__  
__I wanna scream__  
__It makes me feel alive_

_Is it enough to love?__  
__Is it enough to breathe?__  
__Somebody rip my heart out__  
__And leave me here to bleed__  
__Is it enough to die?__  
__Somebody save my life__  
__I'd rather be anything but ordinary please_

_To walk within the lines__  
__Would make my life so boring__  
__I want to know that I__  
__Have been to the extreme__  
__So knock me off my feet__  
__Come on now give it to me__  
__Anything to make me feel alive_

_Is it enough to love?__  
__Is it enough to breathe?__  
__Somebody rip my heart out__  
__And leave me here to bleed__  
__Is it enough to die?__  
__Somebody save my life__  
__I'd rather be anything but ordinary please__  
__I'd rather be anything but ordinary please._

_Let down your defenses__  
__Use no common sense__  
__If you look you will see__  
__that this world is a beautiful__  
__accident turbulent succulent__  
__opulent permanent, no way__  
__I wanna taste it__  
__Don't wanna waste it away_

_Sometimes I get so weird__  
__I even freak myself out__  
__I laugh myself to sleep__  
__It's my lullaby_

_Is it enough?__  
__Is it enough?__  
__Is it enough to breathe?__  
__Somebody rip my heart out__  
__And leave me here to bleed__  
__Is it enough to die?__  
__Somebody save my life__  
__I'd rather be anything but ordinary please_

_Is it enough?__  
__Is it enough to die?__  
__Somebody save my life__  
__I'd rather be anything but ordinary please__  
__I'd rather be anything but ordinary please._

The notes slowly drifted to an end and I looked up to see Mackie watching me with piercing eyes.

"What?" I asked. "Was it bad?"

"No," he said quietly. "I think you've got another hit on your hands."

I smiled slightly. "Then what are you staring at?"

"You've changed."

I raised an eyebrow. "Is that a bad thing?"

"No, not at all. The Flock, they've changed you."

I'm sure my smile got sappy there. "Yeah, they have."

"I'm glad. You've got more life to you. I missed this side of you. I haven't seen it since your dad died."

My breath caught in my throat. I nodded slowly. "I know,"

"No, you don't. You've been _told _you were different after that, I don't think you ever realized how much. But now….well, to those of us who've seen the change in you, it's a miracle. I'd like to give the Flock an award just for that alone."

"Are you going to give them an award for something else?"

"Well, not I in particular, but the nation's youth will surely award them plenty of music awards in the future. It's official. Copies of their CD's are burned and ready to go as soon as we get the cover art."

"Really?" I perked up, listening intently. "When do you get a shoot for the cover art?

"I was going to call them tomorrow to schedule a date."

"Why don't we have them come over after dinner?" I suggested.

"That would work too. Now, do you have any other songs you've been working on?"

I blushed and looked away. "No,"

"Now that is a conflicting answer." Mackie said. "You say no, but your blush says yes."

I sighed, my gaze flickering to my lyric book where it rested on the side table.

Before I could object Mackie had strode over to it and started flipping to its latest entry.

"Mackie no!" I objected, flinging myself off the mini stage after him. But he took off up the stairs, reading my lyrics. My _diary entry of a song!_

"Mackie please! No!" but he ran right through the kitchen, past my mom, who was taking the turkey out of the over, and Chuck, who was mashing potatoes.

He ran into the dining room and like an immature kid, he stood on a chair, holding my diary out of reach as he read.

"I was looking through the chair/You were looking through the mirror/Never met eyes/No, I've never seen clearer than now/There's no way out/I'm tingling in places I didn't know existed/How are things right and also twisted?/How can we work this out?/Somehow everything in me is changing/In the most amazing kind of way-"

"Mackie please!" I begged. I _never _beg. But I didn't want him reading any more of it. It was personal, probably the most personal song I've ever written.

He looked down at me at the same moment Mom and Chuck walked into the room.

"What's going on in here?" Mom demanded, hands on her hips.

Mackie still looked at me, I felt tears pricking at the back of my eyes. I knew it was irrational but I felt like I could cry if he read any more, especially in front of my _mother. _

"Oh, just the usual, finding new ways to torture Maxi." Mackie said lightly, snapping my lyric book shut and climbing down from the chair. I snatched the book away and hugged it to my chest.

Mom looked between the two of us before saying "Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Go wash up." Then she and Chuck disappeared into the kitchen.

"We'll talk about this later." Mackie said quietly before heading into the kitchen.

I furiously wiped tears out of my eyes and went to hide my lyric book in my room.

….

I was pissed at Mackie for what he did but I also knew there was no way he'd have guessed how much his reading my song would have affected me. They never had to that extent before. That's because Fang affected me that much.

But I'd _die _if he ever heard that song. If he knew how soft he made me…

I shuddered.

"Max, are you okay?" Chuck asked me from where he sat across the table.

"I'm fine," I assured him, taking a big bite of cranberry sauce. "This is really good Chuck."

"Flattery, Max," he pointed out.

Damn, caught at my own game.

"Mac, what did you do to the poor girl?" he demanded, turning to Mackie.

Mackie swallowed his food and shrugged. "I'm not even sure about that."

I glared at him.

"Max, what is it?" Mom asked.

I don't know why I was being so stupid. For the longest time the three people at this table had been some of my only friends. I was being stupid. Just because I got some new friends didn't mean I couldn't confined in the old ones.

"He just read some lyrics that weren't finished yet and I didn't want him to read them."

"Why not? You let Mackie read all of your lyrics." Mom pointed out.

"Well this song was different. That's all. Don't worry about it. I'm not mad at you Mackie." I assured him.

"Thanks Maxi." He smiled softly. But he still gave me that 'we'll talk later' fatherly look.

"Well, what else is going on with you guys?" Mom asked to break the silence.

"Well," Chuck said, "Mackie's ready to get the cover made for the Flock."

"Really?" Mom exclaimed. "How exciting! When will their CD be out? I'll buy the first copy."

"Well, as soon as they get the cover art done, it will take as little as a month to get it in the local stores." Mackie said, all business like.

Mom nodded. "Things happen fast in the music world."

That, we all could agree to.

….

Because Mom and Chuck cooked Thanksgiving dinner, it was Mackie and my job to do the dishes. Which meant Mackie had a period of time to drill me about my lyrics.

"Max, those lyrics…" he began.

"I told you not to read them." I said stubbornly.

"You also told me you weren't mad." He pointed out.

I exhaled sharply."Yeah well mad and peeved aren't exactly the same thing."

"They're close enough."

"What do you expect me to say, Mackie?" I demanded, dropping a gravy boat back into the sink, splashing us both with soapy water. "You read my lyrics when I told you not to. It's as bad as reading my diary, okay?" I picked up the gravy boat and began to scrub again.

"I had no idea you'd react so strongly and I do apologize. However, those lyrics, if you're really that serious about Fang are you talking to anyone about it?"

I blushed a deep red and passed a clean dish to him to dry.

"It's not like that." I mumbled automatically scanning to look for my mom. She was watching reruns of the parade with Chuck.

"But it seems like your getting serious, if you love this boy—"

"I didn't say love…and neither has he." I admitted, somewhat bitterly.

"Ah, and we reach the heart of the problem." Mackie said quietly. Then he quoted my lyrics: "'I've never seen clearer than now…I'm tingling in places I didn't know existed/ how are things right and also twisted/ how can we work this out?'" he paused. "Max, if you really do feel like this about a boy, don't hide it."

"I'm not." I was tomato red by now. "I'm just waiting for him to say it first."

"The L word is very hard to say for the first time. Take me and Chuck for example. I loved him for a long time before I said it. I was waiting for him to say it, just like you are, but he didn't. My feelings didn't go away, so I said it first. And do you know what he said?"

"What?" I whispered.

"He said: well it's about time." Mackie chuckled. "Sometimes you're both waiting for the other and you just need to take point."

"Mackie, I don't know with Fang." I said, frustrated. "I've never been in love, I don't know if I really am in love or just in love with the idea of being in love. I don't want to get hurt."

"With love comes hurt, Max. They're never separate." This he said sadly. "I wish there were another way but there isn't. But I don't think you have to worry about Fang. He's crazy about you."

"Thanks, Mackie." I hugged him, not caring that I got soap suds all over him.

"No problem, kiddo." He said, patting the top of my head.

…..

The Flock came over briefly that afternoon to meet with Mackie. They settled on this Saturday as the album shoot.

I wanted them to stay longer but everyone had something they had to do at home with their families. So I regretfully said goodbye.

An hour after the Flock left, Mackie and Chuck hit the road as well for their three hour drive home.

Then it was just me and Mom.

"I'm going to be early." I informed Mom, heading up the stairs.

"Max, wait. Come here for a second." She called from the living room.

"Yeah?" I asked, coming to stand in front of where she sat on the couch. She patted the spot next to her and I warily sat down beside her. "What's up?"

"I heard you talking to Mackie."

"You did?" I felt my face lose color so fast it was like someone sucked the blood out with a straw (yes, I am fully aware of how gross that sounds).

"Yes, I did. Max, if you have problems like this why don't you come talk to me? I'm your mother, this is where I'm supposed to help you." She sounded slightly hurt.

I was too mortified to care. I dropped my head into my hands.

"Mackie wasn't supposed to read that anyway."

"I understand that Max, but if you are questioning if you're in _love _or if your boyfriend is in love with you, well then you can come talk to me, honey. I want to help you."

I sighed. "Mom," I didn't know where to begin. "I'm not sure _what _I feel."

"What did you write in your song?"

I blushed.

"If you _wrote_ how you feel than you _know_ how you feel, Max." she sighed "Being a teenager… being in a first relationship is hard. Its new territory. You don't know what half those feelings mean, and I can't tell you how you feel honey, I wish it was that easy but it isn't. All you need to do I follow what you think is right, what you feel in your heart is right, no matter how corny that sounds."

I felt a smile tug at my lips.

"I don't want to get hurt." I repeated what I had said to Mackie earlier. I was so afraid that I would lose Fang if I said something… if I told him something-a feeling-that he didn't reciprocate. I couldn't lose him.

"Mackie was right about that, about everything. You risk getting hurt. That's why it's called 'falling in love' because you don't know how you'll land."

"Then why do we even bother?" I demanded, frustrated at the complexity of my stupid emotions.

"Because we're always hoping that someone's there to break our fall."

**Oh. My. God. I love this chapter if I do say so myself! I love the father figure/daughter and mother/daughter conversations. It just makes me want to cry! Well, my little lovelies, it is two in the morning as I finish typing this and I am beat! So goodnight! Read and Review!**

**Peace!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Oh my god I am so psyched! I just saw the cover for ANGEL! I can't wait! I hope JP fixed how screwed up he left things after FANG….. Angel hits stores everywhere February 14, 2011! **

**Disclaimer: I am not a man, therefore I don't own MR, and my initials are not JP therefore I do not own it.**

Chapter 24

I asked Fang to come over to my house early on Saturday. We were leaving for the Flocks photo shoot at eleven, so he came over at nine.

Mackie had called me last night and said that he wanted me to write a duet for my next album and pick who I wanted to sing it with.

Naturally I chose Fang.

I didn't know what we were going to write but I was excited to see how it'd turn out.

Fang knocked on the door at exactly nine o'clock. Ugh, what an ungodly hour to be up on during a school holiday.

"Hey," I greeted him.

"Hey," he nodded at me. "So, what does Mackie want the duet to be about?" he asked as I led the way down to the music room.

"He didn't say. He just said 'make it about something real'. That leaves a broad horizon."

"Usually to be real, it has to be about your experiences." Fang pointed out.

"Then we'll work off of that. Here, you write down some experiences, and I'll do the same. We can share them in a few minutes. And don't worry, we'll make it work." I said confidently. I was sure that Fang and I could write an amazing song together.

We settled onto a couple of chairs and got to work. Ten minutes later I had a paper full of things that had happened, mainly, since I'd moved to Navajo.

"What do you have?" I asked him, tossing my paper aside.

"Nothing you don't know," he passed his paper to me. I smiled as I read it. Most of the experiences were things we'd done together.

Mine matched them.

"Well, we seem to be on the same wave length." I smiled, retrieving my paper to show him our identical notes.

He chuckled and started muttering lyrics under his breath. I tapped a beat to it and suddenly said "Hold on,"

I went and grabbed my acoustic guitar from its stand and started strumming a tune to his lyrics.

Our song started to unfold.

…..

"So do we get to choose our outfits? Or do they choose them for us? Either way I'm sure we'll look awesome! Oh I hope I get to wear pink! Pink, such a funny word isn't it? Did the people who made up English just look at something pink, maybe a little piglet, and say 'oh, this looks like _pink'_ I mean—"

"For God's sake Nudge! My ears are bleeding!" Iggy said with his usual tact.

She closed her gab and looked impishly out the window.

"Pink could work for you," I said in my mediator tone. "Chrissie will be there. She handles all of my wardrobe malfunctions; she'll set you up in what's best. Trust me."

"Oh, I can't wait to meet her! If she put together all of your outfits she must be amazing, I mean, no offence Max, but you have the fashion skills of some poor underprivileged person in a third world country who doesn't even _have _clothes and—"

"Nudge!" this time it was me who jumped on her.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"We're here."

"Oh,"

The photography studio was in downtown Phoenix.**(AN I apologize to people who live in Phoenix because I've never been there so I have nooo idea what it's really like. So this picture I shall paint for you is a figment of my imagination) **A fifteen story studio wedged between two forty story sky scrapers. Across the street was a small miniature version of what Central Park looked like. A _much_ smaller scale. There was a small lake in the center of the park surrounded by mature oak and maple trees whose remaining leaves were shades of red and yellow. I honestly didn't know there would be such prominent seasons so far south, but it looked like New England, with the exception of the weather.

Arizona was my kind of place to live.

I led the Flock into the lobby of the studio to find Mackie and Chrissie waiting for us.

"Max!" Chrissie squealed and ran to hug me. I stiffened under her embrace but if I'd learned anything in my friendship with Chrissie, it was that if you pushed away from one of her hugs, you'd get a bigger one when you weren't expecting it. So I dealt with the original.

"Hey Chrissie,"

"Max I haven't seen you in _forever—_"

"Its been like, a month."

"—_forever _and then there was all that drama last month and I called you like three times but you never called back and you don't have any concerts until next month so I wasn't going to see you and then Mackie called me and said he needed a stylist for the Flock and that you'd be there and I was so excited because I could see you again!"

"Chrissie, I don't believe you've met Nudge. However, you will get along great. She doesn't believe in normal length sentences either." I said, tight lipped. Mackie and the Flock scoffed while Chrissie and Nudge shook hands and started getting in a very serious discussion of the pros and cons of sequence. Chrissie had always been loquacious, not so much as Nudge, I don't think anyone could beat Nudge, but she came in a close second.

I turned to Mackie and gestured to the Flock.

"Fresh meat, ready for prepping." I offered them up like today's special.

Fang rolled his eyes and Ella and Gazzy looked slightly scared. Nudge was still talking to Chrissie so she didn't hear but Iggy punched the air and said, "Bring it on! But if you put me in pink…" he let the threat hang in the air. I shot Fang a disappointed look. His lips twitched in his equivalent of a smile.

…..

The Flock had this whole look going for them that would make for the most rockin' album cover…if they could relax and make it look natural.

As it was every picture that the photographers took looked posed and downright boring.

"You have to give me something I can work with." The photographer begged.

"Like what?" Gazzy asked.

"Something you naturally do."

"Oh that's easy!" Iggy proclaimed. Then he slapped Gazzy and Fang upside the head. Gazzy yelled in protest and Fang slapped him right back. Then the guys started fighting and Nudge and Ella started talking to Chrissie about the clothes they were wearing.

The photographer sat his camera down and did a face palm.

"Don't worry. I have an idea. You can bring that camera outside can't you?"

…..

"What are we doing out here?" Ella asked as me. The Flock, Mackie, Chrissie, and the photographer (who I found out was named Stan) were all across the street away from the studio in Mini Central Park.

"Shooting for normal." I said, walking up to a pile of leaves and without further explanation, scooped up an armful and dumped it on Iggy's head.

"What the heck?" he yelled and lunged for me. I stepped out of the way and Iggy landed in the pile of leaves.

Ella giggled and jumped in after him. Then Nudge. Then Gazzy. Fang was too… well, _Fang_ to mess around like that but he stood with his arms crossed over his chest, shaking his head at his Flock members, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Stan started clicking away with his camera.

That's how the rest of the day went. The Flock spent time in the park, having a great time, getting into trouble (though I have no idea _how _Iggy managed to piss off that mother goose, but Stan had some great shots of it) and having fun. They climbed trees, swung on swings, and even threw Gazzy into the lake. It was a great day and Stan got a lot of great potential album cover shots.

**Okay I know it's not the best chapter but I want to prove the normalcy thing. But the dramas coming….R&R!**

**Peace! **


	25. Chapter 25

**MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! As a special Christmas treat, because you all are awesome with the reviews, I'm going to post all the chapters I have typed up so far. That is THREE chapters! Plus, I GOT A NEW LAPTOP! Now I can type more without getting stuff deleted. This one is short but very Faxy so I hope you enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: [Insert generic disclaimer here] **

Chapter 25

"…in other news coming soon to stores near you is the first ever album put out by The Flock. Now if that name isn't familiar to you by now, The Flock is a band that Max Ride herself has promoted, not to mention the relationship between her and lead singer/guitarist Nick Walker…"

"Do they know everything?" I complained as Fang hit the mute button on Fuse TV. We were sitting on the couch in Fangs room, wrapped up in a blanket to fend off the surprisingly chilly almost-December air.

"Probably," Fang said in his ever garrulous ways, tightening his arms around my waist.

"Well, at least Mackie's got your name out there." I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder.

"No, _you _got our name out there." He whispered in my ear. I blushed lightly and hid my face in his shirt.

"Only through association."

"But you'd do more if you could."

That was true. God, Fang knew me almost better than I knew myself. Sadly, I was right too. The Flock would forever be associated with Max Ride. I wanted them to be known for their talent, not for their friends. Though, their talents would be known soon enough.

"You're quiet." Fang noted after a few minutes.

"Mmm? Oh! I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

"Don't you already know?"

"Should I?"

"Guess," I prompted him. I liked this game.

"Hmmm," he shifted so I was in his lap and he stroked my arm thoughtfully. I felt myself blush and I couldn't focus on anything else besides Fang. A bear on a unicycle wearing a tutu and playing the trombone could have wheeled through his room and I wouldn't have noticed. "I think, your thinking about me," he whispered huskily, "and about this," he drew his hand to the edge of my shirt, "and this," his fingers brushed the skin just below my shirts hem.

My breathing became erratic as I rested my forehead against his throat. I felt him swallow and speak again.

"And of course, you could always be thinking about this," he pulled my hand up to his lips and lightly skimmed his lips all the way up my arm.

I shivered.

He rested his lips at the base of my throat. Then he licked me. Just a flick of the tongue but to my hyper aware nerves it was torture. I shot up faster than a kangaroo after drinking a double shot espresso.

Fang chuckled at my expression while I tried to calm my racing heart.

"That wasn't funny!" I objected, blushing with embarrassment at my reaction.

"Well your expression is." He said between chuckles. I'd never seen Fang find something so funny. Too bad I was at the butt of the joke.

"Fang really, it's not funny." I felt like a fool for being so embarrassed.

"Okay, your right. Hey don't leave, come here!" I tried to walk towards the door but Fang caught me around the waist. I squealed- a very un-Max-like squeal- as Fang pulled me back towards the couch, he pulled too hard and we both tumbled back onto the couch, me on top of him.

"Oof, Fang, god, did you _have _to do that?" I demanded, pulling myself up so I was facing him, half in his lap again.

"As a matter of fact, I did." He said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, his hand lingering on my neck. "You were going to leave and I wasn't done." He smirked at me.

Before I could even ask what he meant by that his lips were placed firmly against mine.

I melted against Fangs kiss. I always do. Tingling sparks of electricity ran through my lips wherever his lips touched mine, and I closed my eyes. His one hand supported my neck while his other hand rested against the small of my back, holding me closer.

I shifted my position so I was straddling him, and wrapped my arms around his neck working my fingers through his shaggy hair.

Fang traced my lower lip with this tongue, begging for entrance. I allowed it.

Then his tongue was exploring my mouth and I felt myself swooning. _God, _I thought, _this boy has such a big effect on me. _

_Or, _another part of me reasoned, _it could be lack of air._

Air, shmair, I never wanted to breathe again if I could continue doing this!

But we really did need air. Even as Fang pulled away from my mouth his lips never left my skin. They migrated to my neck again, working hard where my collar bone began.

I silently gasped for air, my whole body quivering from Fangs touch.

God I loved this boy.

Does he love me? I wondered.

I wasn't about to ask.

Fang brought his lips back to mine and this time our tongues fought for dominance. I was just about to let him win when there was a knock on the door.

Just like earlier, I jumped off of him. We stared at each other for a few seconds, gasping for air and not saying anything. Fangs hair was mussed from where I'd raked through it and his lips were slightly swollen.

I'm sure I look no better, I thought as I straitened my clothes.

Clearing his throat Fang called "Who's there?"

"It's me!" Angel called through the door.

I smoothed my hair down as Angel opened the door.

"What's up, Ange?" I asked.

"I was in the kitchen and the phone rang and I answered it. It was Nudge, she's still at Gazzy's. Anyway, she said to make sure you guys had seen the report on the Flock on Fuse."

"We saw it. Thanks Angel." Fang said, coming to stand next to me.

"Are you leaving, Max?" She asked me innocently.

I nodded. "I should get home for dinner."

"Oh, okay. Hey Max?" she asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"What's that on your neck? Did you hurt yourself?"

My eyes widened. I couldn't see my own neck but I'm sure I knew what she was seeing.

I glared at Fang where he stood next to me smirking.

Boy gave me a damn hickey.

**Read and Review!**

**Peace! **


	26. Chapter 26

**Okay, so originally I wasn't going to add this but I was driving today and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I really liked the idea so tell me what you think! **

**Disclaimer: I have nothing sarcastic, snappy, or anything else interesting to say about this disclaimer so let's just go with: I don't own MR.**

Chapter 26

"Mom I'm home!" I called, slamming the door and locking it behind me. Normal Navajo residents don't have to worry about locking their doors; however, I'd learned the hard way that keeping doors unlocked led to unwelcome guests rooting through your personal possessions.

Little tidbit of advice for all you rising celebrities out there: keep your doors locked.

"Max," Mom called back. Her voice sounded off. I had no time to question that before I was interrupted.

"Max!" an all too familiar, and unwelcome, voice squealed, just before I was tackled in a hug. I caught a glimpse of brown hair before I had the air crushed out of me.

I froze where I stood. I hadn't heard that voice in two years. The last words we'd traded had been harsh. When I had blamed her for Dad's death.

"Lizzie," I breathed.

Lizzie pulled away from me and beamed. She hadn't changed a bit. She was still shorter than me and had long brown hair, wide set hazel eyes, and freckles.

I saw Mom come to stand quietly in the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. She looked put out.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, slightly breathless.

"Coming to visit my best friend of course! I haven't seen you in forever, silly!" she said in a too perky voice. A false voice. I'd come to detect them over the years.

I felt my blood simmer.

"You aren't welcome here." I said shortly before flipping the lock on the door behind me and yanking it open. "Out," I said firmly, gesturing to the open door.

"Max?" her tone made it sound like a question. "Why are you doing this? I came _all this way _to see you. Mom and Dad and I moved here. I'm starting school Monday."

"Well whooptie-fucking-do." I snarled. "Now get out of my house before I make you."

She put her hands on her hips and glared at me. Now there was the Lizzie I remember.

"Don't go telling me what to do, Maximum Ride. You always did that when we used to hang out and I won't stand for it anymore." Let's turn that simmer up to a boil now, shall we?

"That's because you had no backbone to stand up for yourselves! You were only a backstabber who killed my father."

"I wasn't driving the truck that hit you and your dad, Max. I'm not responsible."

"You talked to the paparazzi! You may as well have!" I shrieked "You are no friend of mine Lizzie Mathers. Now. Get. Out." Each word brought me closer to her until I was standing right in front of her, my face inches away from hers as I snarled the final words.

She paled under my deadly glare. "You'll regret this, Max. I was your best friend, but you don't want me as an enemy."

With that she was out the door, slamming it behind her.

Silence.

Do you know that deadly quiet right after a storm or some other significant event where it takes a moment for you to even process what just happened? Well that's what was happening now.

Lizzie had just walked out of my dark past and into my home bringing all the horrible memories with her.

The wave of recollections came unsolicited as I was dragged back into that night:

_Flashback_

"_Max what do you want to do tonight?" Lizzie asked from where she sat curled up on the recliner. My parents sat on the loveseat and I lay sprawled on the couch opposite Lizzie. _

"_I don't know, Liz. Watch some corny movies, make fun of annoying kids at our school, the same thing we do _every other Friday night?"_ I laughed at her. "Really, why would tonight be any different?"_

"_I don't know. Your all famous now, why wouldn't you want to do something more exciting?" she shrugged._

"_I'm not famous." I muttered._

"_Yes you are baby girl." Dad said as he pulled Mom closer to him._

"_Don't call me that." I retorted. It was really more of a reflex anymore. I was used to his term of endearment. _

"_Face it Max, if the paparazzi outside have anything to say about it, your famous." _

_I mumbled incoherently into the arm of the sofa and all was quiet for a few minutes. Then my stomach rumbled and I shot into a sitting position._

"_I know what I want!" I cried out._

"_What?" Mom asked._

"_Ice cream." I said simply. _

_Though the task was anything but simple. There was no ice cream in the house and the paparazzi would find us if we went out to the ice creamery in town. _

"_I'll go get some." Dad offered._

"_No, Dad, on second thought don't worry about it." I said, ashamed that I'd blurted out what I'd wanted like in the old days. The old days were gone and it wasn't so easy to go anywhere anymore. I didn't want dad worrying about it._

"_It's no problem, baby girl." He smiled, ruffling my hair as he passed, just like he'd been doing since I was a baby._

_Once Dad decided he was going to do something there was no changing his mind. That's where I got my stubbornness from._

"_Then I'll come with you." I offered._

"_No, don't worry about it." Dad said. "I'll be right back." _

"_No I want to come. It's just the store."_

_Dad debated for a minute before nodding his consent. I jumped up and ran to get my coat._

"_I'll be back in a few minutes, Liz." I called as I ran from the house._

"_Okay, I'll be here!" she called as I left._

_The store was four miles away. It was late at night, probably ten, and nobody seemed to be on the road. That was, until I noticed one set of headlights illuminating the rearview mirror. Then another, and another._

"_Dad…" I said uneasily._

"_I know." He said shortly. He passed the entrance to the shopping center and headed towards the highway feed-on._

"_Dad, where are we going?" I asked tersely._

"_Away from them." Dad may have been all for my getting a record deal, in fact he was responsible for it, however, he didn't enjoy the paparazzi one bit. In fact, he hated them._

_So did I. They'd been getting in my business lately, learning things about me that I had no idea how they could possibly learn._

_Dad merged onto the highway and floored it. _

_The speedometer crept towards eighty. _

"_Dad," I said nervously. He _never _speeds. _

"_Can't even go to the damn store without them getting up our asses." He muttered, mostly to himself._

"_I'm sorry Dad. This is my fault."_

"_Don't worry about it baby girl. It's not your fault. They're the ones with no life."_

_I looked in the rearview mirror. We were merging in with a bunch of other cars but I still saw three distinct sets of headlights weaving through the traffic to reach us. _

"_What is their _problem_?" I demanded, gripping the edges of my seat tighter. Suddenly Dad exited to the left and I jerked to the side as we pulled off the highway, not slowing down at all, and went through the green light onto another stretch of road._

_Another lane merged with ours. A semi truck barreled down it. He had the yield sign. _

_I realized he wasn't stopping the second before it happened. _

"_Dad!" I yelled "Stop!" _

"_Max," he breathed. _

_Then there was a set of blinding lights. _

_The semi slammed into our car._

_Pain._

_End Flashback_

"Max?" Mom said quietly. The room around me was blurry. That's when I realized it wasn't the room but my eyes.

I was crying.

"Max its okay." She cooed, gripping my shoulder comfortingly. "She knows where you stand, that's what important."

"None of that matters," I whispered, my voice cracking. "Dad's still dead."

All I wanted now was Dad, calling me 'baby girl', ruffling my hair again. Those things I hated when he was alive but missed so desperately when he was dead.

"You can't help that Max," Mom said, pulling me into a hug. "What's done is done."

I stiffened my jaw and pulled away, fleeing to the music room. It was where I was safest. Maybe Iggy was right. Maybe it is my sanctuary.

I ran straight to the grand piano on the stage and, with tears pouring from my eyes, started playing.

**(Hurt by Christina Aguilera) **

_Seems like it was yesterday when I saw your face__  
__You told me how proud you were but I walked away__  
__If only I knew what I know today__I would hold you in my arms__  
__I would take the pain away__  
__Thank you for all you've done__  
__Forgive all your mistakes__  
__There's nothing I wouldn't do__  
__To hear your voice again__  
__Sometimes I want to call you but I know you won't be there__I'm sorry for blaming you for everything I just couldn't do__  
__And I've hurt myself by hurting you__  
__Some days I feel broke inside but I won't admit__  
__Sometimes I just want to hide 'cause it's you I miss__  
__You know it's so hard to say goodbye when it comes to this__Would you tell me I was wrong?__  
__Would you help me understand?__  
__Are you looking down upon me?__  
__Are you proud of who I am?__  
__There's nothing I wouldn't do__  
__To have just one more chance__  
__To look into your eyes and see you looking back__I'm sorry for blaming you for everything I just couldn't do__  
__And I've hurt myself__  
__If I had just one more day, I would tell you how much that__  
__I've missed you since you've been away__Oh, it's dangerous__  
__It's so out of line to try to turn back time__I'm sorry for blaming you for everything I just couldn't do__  
__And I've hurt myself__By hurting you_

I'd written that song after I'd gotten out of the hospital. After the car crash.

I'd meant to sing it, as a type of eulogy for my dad, but I couldn't do it. I couldn't say the words 'I hate you' in his eulogy.

So I'd talked about our life instead.

I rested my head on the keys of the piano and let the tears come.

I never cry. _Never. _

Except when I think about my dad.

I felt my mom wrap her arms around me as she came to sit on the bench beside me.

We never talk about Dad, we get too emotional, but Lizzie brought all those emotions back. If she could do this to me by just showing up, I wonder what she'll do to me now that were enemies.

**I know it's sort of OCC but I needed to show Max's vulnerability. Besides, what better way to introduce Lizzie? Tell me what you think! Review! **

**Peace! **


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I may like the song 'Think Like a Man' by Orianthi but I am no man, therefore I don't own MR. **

**(AN yay! My snappy disclaimers are back!)**

Chapter 27

_If she could do this to me by just showing up, I wonder what she'll do to me now that were enemies._

The answer is….a whole hell of a lot.

I walked into school Monday only to find Lizzie talking to none other than Lissa, loitering in front of my locker.

"Maxi guess who I met!" Lissa crowed. "See, I found her wandering around the halls this morning and she has some very interesting stories to tell!" she smirked and I felt my heart plummet.

When we'd been friends I had told Lizzie everything. My hopes, dreams, _insecurities… _and now she was in Lissa's hands.

Well _hell._

"And, judging by how pale you just went you know _exactly _how interesting they are." Lissa looked like five year old on Christmas morning, her grin was so wide.

"Max who is that?" Ella asked cautiously.

"Oh, how rude of me to not introduce everyone!" Lissa put her hands to her face in mock horror. "Freak Posse, meet Lizzie Mathers."

There was a collective intake from the Flock.

I guess they understood my predicament.

"Oh you better hide that bitch because I'm gonna—"

"Nudge!" I gasped as Fang and Gazzy restrained her from jumping on Lizzie. Although I found her reaction very entertaining and endearing, I couldn't let my friend take the fall in my battle. "Leave her be. If she's gone so low as to hang with Lissa, she's not worth it."

I turned my back and headed towards class, not even bothering to go to my locker.

"Oh yeah? That's what Jimmy Clark thought of you!" Lissa called down the hallway. I went rigid but continued walking stiffly away. I swear, I could see the imminent torture now. I'd just have to ignore it.

"Who's Jimmy Clark?" Fang asked quietly once we'd taken our seats in English.

"Are you jealous, Fang?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Depends, is he as cute as me?" he smirked.

"Oh you have nothing on him!" I scoffed. "He's soooo cute! Those dimples, that rich brown hair, his kindness…he offered to share his sixty-four pack of crayons you know. Oh, did I mention I liked him when I was in first grade? He thought I had cooties." It was my turn to smirk now as Fang's lips twitched in an almost smile.

"You mean you _don't _have cooties?"

"I never said that."

"Well, if Jimmy was from first grade, why are you stressing?" he asked seriously.

"Because," I exhaled sharply and threw my hands in the air. "Lissa has Lizzie which means she knows _everything _about me up to two years ago."

"And your sure Lizzie will tell her everything?"

"Lizzie is stubborn, hard headed, and manipulative, _but _she can't decide for herself. She needs someone to tell her what to do. She'll do anything Lissa asks her to."

"Why did you hang out with her if she was like that?" That was a good question. I'd been asking myself that same question for two years.

"I think…" I said slowly. "Well, when I first met her, we were in kindergarten, and you don't really know to look for the bad in people. I only saw a girl with freckles who asked me to be her friend. As we got older, I got used to her being, well, Lizzie. She always seemed to _want _to do thing I suggested, but now that I look back on it, I realize how she checked with me before she did _anything._ And she had her cynical side. Not that I don't." I admitted.

"Well," Fang sighed. "Lissa has her claws in her now, we can only tough it out."

"Easier said than done."

….

And it was easier said than done. And by lunch time, I was _done._

"I heard she used to be the boring girl in school."

"I heard she beat up a guy for asking her out."

"I heard she had braces."

"I heard…"

"I heard…"

"I heard…"

"And _I _can _hear_ you!" I finally burst exasperated that the _entire school _knew my secrets. Albeit they weren't the worst secrets, things I'd kept from Lizzie, but I knew she was holding back some pretty bad secrets too.

Of course, I hadn't meant to draw attention to myself but now most of the cafeteria was looking my way. Lissa and Lizzie were smirking from their spot at the 'popular' table. I also saw Ari, that asshole who'd hit on me at the dance, sitting to Lissa's right. Oh, this was perfect.

Note the sarcasm.

Well, I had their attention, I might as well use it to my advantage. _And _wipe those smirks of their faces.

I stood up and addressed the cafeteria. "Yeah, okay, when I was thirteen I had braces. I wasn't the most popular kid in school, and yes, I did beat up a guy but that was after he asked me out, but before he asked me out he tripped little Lizzie over there. If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I'm real. And don't piss me off." I went to sit down, but I caught all their faces in their fish gapping expressions. "Oh, you can go back to talking if you want." I smirked at Lissa and Lizzie who were now glaring at me, and sat down.

"Max, you are my hero." Iggy said sighing elaborately.

I may be a hero to Iggy, but I was now a target for Lizzie and Lissa, and I knew whatever they had planned for me next, it'd be worse than ever before.

**Oh, it's on. Hahahaha! So this chapter is just setting things up for the future…. REVIEW! HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE HOLIDAY TREAT! **

**Peace! **


	28. Chapter 28

**Thanks guys! On Christmas I got over _1.71k hits_ on my story! You guys rock!**

**Disclaimer: Does anyone here actually think I own MR? If you do, go get a MRI.**

Chapter 28

"Well what do you think they're going to do now?" Ella asked, leaning back against Iggy where they sat snuggled up on the love seat. We were at my house, and after that verbal smack down in the cafeteria none of us were certain what Lissa and her new right hand man, Lizzie were going to do next.

And I said just as much. "I don't know. Lissa's always full of surprises. And Lizzie is giving her ammunition. We can just bet it won't be fun."

"Well what more can she do?" Gazzy asked. He too was curled up with his girlfriend on a recliner, Nudge perched in his lap.

I shook my head. Lizzie had almost surely told most of my secrets to Lissa and looking back I realized that what I had thought was super secret back then weren't too bad (even though I would have preferred that they were never told).

Lizzie would eventually run out of ammo and I knew that Lissa would soon resort back to her old conniving ways. I just didn't know what to expect.

I turned to Fang who'd been sitting quietly beside me all night.

"What do you think?" I asked him.

He looked up from where he'd been studying his hands and gave me a blank look. "About what?"

Iggy snickered and Ella, Nudge, and I rolled our eyes at the same time. You'd think we'd rehearsed it.

"Well _somebody _wasn't paying attention now were they? I asked what you thought Lissa's next move would be?"

He shrugged indifferently. I felt my brow furrow at his nonchalant ways. Almost detached as if he didn't care what Lissa's next plot to hurt me would be. "Don't know. She'll surprise us."

"Well that _doesn't _help. We already figured that out thank you very much." I said snidely.

"Well then why did you ask me?" he said in a matching tone.

"I _thought _you may give it some thought but apparently not."

"Trouble in paradise." I heard Iggy mutter.

"Shut up Ig!" we both said at the same time.

"Look, whatever they do, we'll just have to tough it out." Ella said in an attempt to lessen the tension. "It can't be anything you can't handle. Besides, you'll always have us."

….

Lizzie and Lissa tried, I'd give them that. They spread rumors, they told secrets, and they bashed me. Luckily, two years of having paparazzi spin random stories about me had me prepared for whatever they threw at me. I was the bigger person, I turned the other cheek so to speak. I ignored the secrets, discredited the rumors, and bashed them right back.

But just because I looked fine on the outside didn't mean I wasn't a wreck on the inside.

They only thing that did confuse me, was Fang. I don't know if the rumors affected him or what but he continued acting strange. The rest of the Flock was fine, they helped me discredit rumors over the week that Lizzie started school, they even spun a few of their own (not that I condoned them but they were frickin hilarious!).

Fang didn't participate though. He sort of seemed detached. Well, more than usual. I guess he was the same to everyone else but I couldn't have silent conversations anymore, he was avoiding eye contact. I didn't know what he was hiding. Maybe the rumors were changing his view on me. Did he actually believe them? Did Lizzie and Lissa tell him some secret about me that he didn't like? Did he agree with some of the things they were saying?

He was driving me up the frickin wall. It was like that for the entire week back from Thanksgiving break.

I found out what was wrong on the first day of December.

"…and so Janie Harman was saying like 'I heard she hooked up with her boyfriend back in California' and I was like, 'um excuse me, but no. Max is no slut unlike you,' and she was all like—"

"Nudge!" I interjected finally, touching my hand to my ears to make sure they weren't bleeding.

"Yeah Max?" she asked innocently while Ella smirked at her side.

I sighed. "I'm just going to go find Fang and we'll leave, okay?"

"Okie dokie!" she said happily and I made my escape down the empty hallway, heading towards Fangs locker.

I wondered what was taking Fang so long. He usually just met the Flock by my locker at the end of the day, but at this point I'd do anything to escape Nudges incessant babbling.

As I turned the corner I heard a slight scuffling and the sound of the lockers rattling. My eyes immediately located the source of the disturbance.

Two teenagers were pressed up against the lockers in a tight embrace, completely oblivious to their surroundings.

One was short with fiery red hair….

And the other was tall with olive skin and black hair.

_Fang._

I felt my heart seize up in my chest, like I'd just been electrocuted and my heart had given out. The feeling seemed to smother me, making my breaths come in short but harsh gasps.

It was the feeling of my heart slowly and irrevocably breaking.

"I hate you," I managed to choke out, after what seemed like an eternity of watching Fang and Lissa in a lip lock. In reality it was probably two or three seconds.

Almost immediately Fang had pushed Lissa away and his eyes focused on me, a look that just screamed _I'm in trouble._

Well yes he was.

"Max," he started but I'd already spun on my heels and was heading quickly towards the schools exit.

I heard him call after me but I ignored him, lengthening my strides. I needed to get out of here before the tears that pricked at my eyes became too much to hold in.

So this is what had been wrong with Fang all week. He didn't want me anymore. He wanted Lissa.

"Max, what's going on?" Ella asked as I rushed past them. I didn't answer, I sped up until I was running.

A sob ripped its way out of my throat and I hated my weakness. But this is what happens when you let your guard down. This is what I deserve for thinking that I, Max Ride, could actually have a normal life, a boyfriend. That I could trust anyone in my life.

The pleas behind me grew in volume as I jumped the school steps and ran for the gate. I'd run the whole way home if it meant getting away from _him._

He was getting closer, I could feel his presence as the skin on the back of my neck prickled. Suddenly his hand came down on my shoulder, pulling me up short.

"Max, you don't understand…" he panted. I pulled away from him. There was _no way_ that I was going to stick around and listen to him make excuses for himself.

I started stalking off towards home in strong determined strides.

"Please, you have to listen to me—"

"No you listen to me Nicholas Walker!" I shrieked, my voice ripping through two octaves. I saw him blink, momentarily frozen. Shock showed plainly on his face, and on the Flocks faces, where they stood a few yards behind him. I _never _called Fang by his real name, not once since I'd been told his nick name.

But a nick name is how you address a _friend, _someone who you were close to. And after this, I wanted to be as far away from him as possible.

"I _trusted _you! Do you know how hard that is for me to do? Of course you know!" I answered my own question. "Because I told you _everything _about me! I trusted you and you took that trust and just threw it in my face." My voice cracked and I hated that I felt tears leak out of the corners of my eyes. "Just do us all a favor and stay away from me."

I turned my back on him and his hurt expression and ran down the street towards my house.

**Don't kill me! We all know that the happy couple has to fight at some point. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and all that jazz. Read and Review! Also, some of you have showed interest in the Flocks reaction throughout the story. Well heres the deal: I did write some chapters with their POV's but they didn't flow well with the body of the story. SO if you guys want, after I finish the actual story (Chapter 35 is the last chapter for this story), I could post the alternate POV chapters. Let me know what you want!**

**Peace! **


	29. Chapter 29

**Thanks for the Reviews! I love them! **

**Disclaimer: In a perfect world, I would own MR. Sadly the world is anything but perfect. **

Chapter 29

I slammed the door behind me, making sure to lock it, before running up the stairs and throwing myself on my bed.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've cried. Two have been since I moved to Navajo.

And yet, I found myself bawling into my pillow, crying out of anger, betrayal, heartbreak, loss, and humiliation.

I hoped Fang realized that he'd just done damage worse than what Lizzie had ever done. Worse than what Lissa had been doing since I'd moved here.

Trust is an important thing to me, and he'd just proven what I'd feared since Dads death, that nobody can truly be trusted.

Not in my life.

"Max?" Mom called as she knocked on my door. I hadn't realized that she was home.

"Go away." I called. My voice sounded off. My nose was clogged up from crying and I'm sure I had red blotches under my eyes.

Naturally, being a mom and all, Mom felt the need to ignore my command and come in anyway.

"Oh baby!" she exclaimed coming to sit next to me. Unbidden she pulled me into her embrace and I rested my forehead on her shoulder, soaking the fabric of her shirt with my salty tears. "What happened."

I mumbled some explanation into her shirt.

"Honey I can't understand you." She said softly.

I pulled away from her embrace and once again buried my head in my pillow, pulling my blanked up over my head.

"Fang cheated on me." I whispered.

"Oh honey are you sure it wasn't all a misunderstanding?" Mom asked quietly rubbing my back rhythmically.

"He was holding her, Mom!" I objected. "If you don't want a kiss, you push away after a second but he didn't! He kept kissing her! He wasn't there to break my fall." My voice broke on the last word.

"Max," she sighed. "Teenage hormones are horrible. I remember being your age, they were all confusing and made me look at things differently. Maybe you saw what happened as something completely different from what it really was."

"I already told you! If it was a mistake he would have pushed her away! He would have—" I was interrupted by a knock at the front door.

"Don't answer that." I spat.

"I think you two need to talk." Mom informed me.

"Well I don't! I was _in love_ with him Mom! I was in love with him and he went and did that! I don't want to hear his excuses! Don't answer the door."

I burrowed deeper into my bed.

I heard her sigh.

"Alright, Max. I'm going to go send him away."

I muttered something like 'just ignore him' but she'd already left. I settled deeper into my misery.

….

I skipped school the next day.

That right, I'll go to school right after everyone finds out I'm a famous singer but after a bad breakup? Pheesh! Nope, not happening.

To make it worse (what you didn't think it could get any worse? Well, neither did I until I went online the next morning) the press had somehow gotten wind of the breakup.

On my home page glaring right at me in full color was a shot of me yelling at Fang with the headline: _**Maximum Breakup **_above it.

I didn't bother reading the article, I knew it would just hurt me more.

I shut the computer down without checking my email and went to do little things around the house.

My phone rang constantly. It was always someone from the Flock calling to check on me. Calling to ask what wrong. Calling to see where I was.

I ignored at least fifteen calls from them between yesterday and today. Not to mention the ten calls from Fang and his voicemails which I deleted without listening to.

I was in the middle of vacuuming (me, Maximum Ride, vacuuming. What the hell?) when my phone rang. _Again. _

I tugged it out of my pocket, fully expecting it to say _Fang. _But it didn't. Instead _Mackie _lit up my screen.

I sighed and answered the phone.

"Yes Mackie?"

"Maxi! What happened?" I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. So he'd read the headlines.

"Nothing."

"Well _something _happened. You two are perfect for each other!"

I really didn't need to hear that.

"Well apparently not Mackie or we'd still be together. Please, let's not do this."

"Oh but we must, love! I need to know _exactly _what happened so I can tell you how stupid the two of you are being and that you need to reconcile now. As in, _right now. _And—hey, why aren't you at school?"

"Have you been hanging out with Nudge and Chrissie lately?" I demanded.

"Well, maybe, their fashion sense is incredible, I mean, the things those two can do with rhinestones and sequence, but that's not what we're talking about! Do not try and redirect this conversation Maximum Ride—Martinez, whatever you are. Now, tell me, _What. Happened?" _

Damn, so close!

"Its was bad Mackie, I caught him with another girl."

"Caught, as in….yea know…._caught…_?"

"Wha—oh god no! Mackie!" I felt my face heating up at his suggestion that I'd caught Fang and Lissa _in bed. _No, the bitch wouldn't be alive if I had.

"Then what?" he demanded.

"They were kissing okay? I caught them kissing. I don't care if it was once, he went behind my back and he'll always be thinking about her. I don't want to be in a relationship where he thinks he can go behind my back and I'll stay with him."

"But what if it was an accident?"

"Oh yeah! They accidently fell against the lockers and he broke her fall with his lips! Really, Mackie! You know better than that."

"I just mean that maybe he didn't mean for it to happen."

"Fang is strong, if he didn't mean for it to happen, it wouldn't have happened. Besides, he's been weird all week. He's standoffish towards me and just seemed like he wasn't into me like that anymore. Apparently he's into slutty, short, and red hair now."

"That most definitely is not what Fang's into."

"Like you'd know. I don't know why your wasting your time Mackie, you know me, you know I won't change my mind."

He sighed. "I know, girl, I just don't want you to be doing something you'll regret."

I already regret it…

"I have to go, I'll talk to you later."

"By Max,"

"By Mackie."

**Its really important to know how Max is rationalizing her reasons for breaking up with Fang….. R&R**

**Peace!**


	30. Chapter 30

**After a serious threat to my turtle, I have a new chapter for you. But be warned: if anyone touches my turtle they will have to answer to a _very_ mad NightWrighter511! **

**Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, if I owned Max Ride, I'd be worshiped by you! **

Chapter 30

"Max please—"

"GO AWAY!" I yelled through the door.

Fang pounded his fist against it again. "I'm trying to explain—"

"I don't want excuses! Your making it worse! Go away!"

He'd followed me home. I'd studiously ignored him all day, talking only to the Flock at lunch and in between classes, but I couldn't escape him now.

"I'm sorry!"

"I don't want to hear it!" I felt myself getting choked up again. I needed him to go away. Now.

"Its true!"

"Well I hate you!" I screamed. "I hate you and I don't want to talk to you ever again! Leave me the hell alone!"

What a lie. I felt myself breaking some more inside. I may hate him (and trust me, I did hate him) but I found out that it is in fact possible to hate someone and love them unconditionally at the same time.

I loved Fang. I loved him and I hated him for what he did to me.

I needed space so I could get over both emotions. I hoped (futilely I know) that we could get back to some semblance of friendship over time. A lot of time.

The silence in the air was deafening.

Finally Fang spoke. "Fine, Max. Whatever you say." There was the sound of footsteps and he was gone.

Its what I'd asked for, so why'd I feel so broken?

…

"So, Maxi, what's wrong?" I bit my lip and closed my eyes hoping that if I pretended that Lissa wasn't there she'd disappear.

No such luck.

"Awww, come on Max, we know something up! You haven't been yourself for days!" Lizzie chimed in. "Could it be…maybe…well, is it something with you and Fang?"

I glared at my once-upon-a-nightmare friend. "Back off, Mathers." I warned in a dangerous voice.

"Why? What could we possibly be saying about your life that you haven't already heard?" Lissa chimed in. It had been five days since I'd broken up with Fang but seeing Lissa so close to me….oh I was so tempted to throttle her! And her little friend too!

_Relax, Max. Don't let the bimbo and buddy get to you. Don't sink further because of their antics_.

"What? No reply? Little Maximum has no reply? Well that's—"

"Max!" luckily Lissa was interrupted by my chorus teacher hurrying down the hall towards me. Ms. Galloway was probably my favorite teacher. She treated me like every other pupil she had: as a singer with ambition. She did, however, enjoy talking to me about more complicated pieces now and then. She also loved Ella and Nudge.

"Yes, Ms. Galloway?" I asked, happily stepping away from the dream team of torture and into actually enjoyable conversation. Lissa huffed and stomped her way down the hall, Lizzie following her like an obedient dog.

"I have a proposition for you." She said, pulling me from the end of the day student rush and into an alcove.

I raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to continue.

"Well, on every December 21st we, being Navajo, host a Winter Festival to keep the small town spirit high as well as raise money for the going-on's of Navajo. The last few years have been, well, unsuccessful to say the least. This year we want to change that. And what better way than by having a famous singer perform?"

Oh.

"You don't have to agree to it just yet. Just think about it. You still have a week before we need an answer. We'd just charge admission into the Festival and there'd be food, drink, games, rides, it's really a small carnival. The apogee of the events would be the performances. We have a tree lighting at sundown. It's really a beautiful event. We already have the Flock performing for a majority of the performance time but we want the added appeal of you being there. Just a few songs. Five at the most! Think about it!" Ms. Galloway said before walking away.

"Wait!" I called. A Winter Festival? A chance to help Navajo? The place I'd turned upside down, overrunning it with bad publicity? It was the least I could do. Besides, I'd come to love Navajo since I'd come here. I wanted to help it. "I'll do it. I just need to get the band to town."

"Oh really?" she exclaimed clapping her hands together. "Excellent! Thank you Max!" She gave my hand a squeeze.

"No problem Ms. Galloway."

…..

"Max, when are you and Fang going to get over this?" Nudge demanded Friday at our usual movie night/sleepover.

"It's not that easy Nudge." I sighed. "But we're working on it."

"Are you kidding me?" she hissed and pulled me into the kitchen, away from the rest of the Flock. "You two have barley talked since the breakup! And I mean, I know Fang doesn't talk a lot but he does to you. Or he did. And he keeps looking at you. Mooning over you really, and that's not something he does easily. I mean this is _Fang _we're talking about. I think you should give him a chance to explain. He says—"

"Nudge, please, I don't need anyone getting involved in this. It's between me and Fang, not you guys."

"Well fine but please, please, please times infinity consider listening to him. I miss the old Fang and the old you."

"I'm still me." I insisted.

She scoffed. "You're dead inside. Admit it."

Well maybe, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

"I'm not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too times infinity."

Damn, they always get me with that. I rolled my eyes and brushed it off.

"So tell me Nudge, what are you guys going to play at the Winter Festival?"

"Oh! You heard about that? How? Oh wait, Ms. Galloway I bet, she's always in charge of it. Well we were going to play the songs from the upcoming album. And a new song." She gave me a sidelong look.

"What new song?" I asked. I didn't know they had a new song.

"Oh nothing. You'll just have to wait to hear it with the rest of the world. But anyway another band goes on before us and they saved a spot after us so I guess that's when you'll come on. after that we have one song to play for the closing ceremony and then they light the tree. It's going to be awesome. With you there I bet we'll get a lot of money."

"No, they'll all come for you so they can tell the world that they knew you before the rest of the world did." I assured her.

"Okay, they'll come for both of us." She agreed. I turned to go join the others. "And Max!" Nudge called. "Don't think I'm going to let this go."

**I know its short but this is a filler chapter basically introducing the Winter Festival (obviously). Doesn't mean I still don't want reviews! Happy New Year! **

**Peace!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride. James Patterson does. *sobbing* **

Chapter 31

People say time heals everything. You have a broken bone? Just wait for it to heal. You have a fever? Wait it out. You have a broken heart? Well, your shit out of luck.

Okay, so my point is time _doesn't _heal everything. Nearly half a month. That's how long I'd been separated from Fang. Exactly nineteen days. And with each passing day, I missed him more and more. I missed our silent conversations. I missed how he just _got _me, more than I do. I missed how I could always turn to him, how he was my right hand man.

I missed my best friend.

It took me about two minutes after my conversation with Nudge that day to realize that I needed Fang back in the worst of ways. But how? I'd shunned him. I'd told him I hated him and that he needed to leave me alone.

And if there was one thing that anyone knew about me it was my complete _inability to eat my words._

So how did I get Fang back?

…..

"Max, love, where's the list of what we're going to sing at the Festival?" Ryan asked me. We were all sitting in my music room finishing up our practice. The band had come in today from California for the Festival, they'd be staying at my house for the next two days.

"Um, well, I sorta need to make one." I said impishly.

"You haven't made one yet?" Eli said in mock disbelief. Eli had been getting on my nerves in the worst of ways lately. Maybe because I knew he wasn't messing around and that his attitude, and disdain, was real.

I ignored the jib but I heard Ryan mutter "what a wanker", making me smile.

"I've been busy lately." I defended myself. Yeah, busy planning a way to get Fang back. If I was going to eat my words and ask him to forgive me (a complete turn of events from what I had originally thought was necessary, but I was willing to do) it needed to be drastic. You know me, go big or go home.

I just needed to figure out what to do.

"So, you're always busy but you're still able to do your job." Eli said.

"Eli," I ground out. "Cool it or you'll regret it. Do not get on my bad side today." I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to collect myself. "Alright," I said at last. "Five songs. Let's do: Wondergirl, Anything but Ordinary, Think Like a Man, Fences, and…and…" I fumbled as an idea struck me. One last song. One song. One drastic declaration of my feelings. Oh I was soooo going to regret this. "and Fall Into Me." I concluded.

"What? What's that?" Mike asked. "New song? I don't remember it."

"Of course it's new." Shannon rolled her eyes at him from where she lay sprawled across the stage floor.

"_None of us _know it though, Max." Macy pointed out.

"That's because I didn't know if I ever wanted to sing it until now." I admitted.

"Oh, I see where this is going." Shannon said in a wizened manner. "Is this about getting the boyfriend back?"

"Possibly." I went to grab my sheet music. "Just practice your parts." I said, distributing the music.

…..

"Okay so you're scheduled to go on after the Flock tomorrow," Ms. Galloway informed me. It was weird seeing my teacher when I was on winter break but I'd arranged to meet Ms. Galloway at a local café to get our schedule and make sure everything was ready. "You will go on a little after six. Sunset is six forty-five so that will give you enough time to do your set and then the Flock can do their last song."

I nodded as I soaked in the information. "Do you have the list of your songs?" She asked me.

I handed her the set list, watching her as she read it over. "'Fall into Me'. Is that new?"

"Yeah, I'm premiering it at the Festival." I said, my throat tightening slightly.

"Oh excellent! I'm sure it will be great."

"I'm sure it will be."

There was no going back now.

**Okay, this chapter is short. I am fully aware of that, and I know a few people miss the old lengthy entries. Well, there is a reason they are short. However. Because they are short I am able to write more quickly. Click the next chapter button and read the second entry for today! R&R**

**Peace!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: If I wrote Max Ride I'm sure I'd of had more money for Christmas shopping.**

Chapter 32

"Where do we start?" Mackie asked me. I looked around at the hubbub of the Winter Festival. Kids, parents, and teens alike ran around from kiosks to games and rides. I even saw a kid whose parents had her in one of those backpack leashes where you hold the tail of the monkey. Poor kid.

"Um, we have to go to the back of the park, that's where the stage is." I started weaving through the crowd leading my band, my mom, and Mackie and Chuck towards our destination.

"Max, wait up!" Shannon called. "You don't exactly stand out in this crowd, don't get too far ahead." I huffed out a breath in annoyance. What I was wearing was fine. I wore a black long sleeved shirt (it was cold out even for Arizona!), black skinny jeans, a piano keyed pattern belt, boots, and a white hat. **(A/N: Picture on my profile!) **Never the less I slowed my pace so they could catch up. Slow pokes.

Everyone was at the stage already. Ms. Galloway was talking to two girls with guitars who I assumed were the first performers. To their right and off towards the curtains a little (Yes, they had gone as far as setting up curtains to create a back stage for performers to prepare) stood the Flock. There was already a crowd forming around the stage and camera crews were setting up as well.

To the left of the stage stood a Rockefeller Center worthy Christmas tree, prepped and ready to be lit. The people of Navajo really got into their holidays.

Ms. Galloway waved to us and said something to the two girls before heading our way.

"Hi everyone! I'm Ms. Galloway, but you can call me Theresa." She said, shaking every ones hands. "I'm so glad you all are here today. We're going to run a quick sound check then the first performance will begin. You don't have to stay backstage for the entire thing. Just make sure your backstage at least ten minutes before your scheduled to go on."

The band nodded and headed towards the backstage where our instruments had been dropped off earlier.

I walked over to the Flock.

I could easily see everyone from where I was but I kept my eyes on Fang as I walked closer. He was in his trademark black clothes and had emotionless mask on. I missed him so much it hurt. I felt like my right arm was missing without him by my side.

People say it takes a while to find your perfect other half but that's a lie. It's not even a matter of finding your 'other half'; it's a matter of finding that one person who knows you so completely that you are in sync in everything you do.

And I already found that person. Fang is who I see myself beside when I'm growing old and grey. Throughout the struggles of life: college, marriage, a first house, and a family. I want to share that all with him and no one else.

So it kind of sucks that we still aren't talking.

But that's my fault. I'd tried to broach the subject numerous times over the past few weeks but I couldn't get the words out. It was like something just locked them in my throat whenever I got close to saying them. I had only been alone with him one time since I realized I still wanted to be with him.

_Flashback_

"_Max can you go get my curling iron from my room please?" Nudge asked while we were in their home theater the Friday winter break officially started._

"_Why do you need it down here?" I demanded. _

"_Because I want to do Ella's hair." She said in a duh voice. _

_Any normal person would have thought 'oh she's up to something' but I know Nudge and it was a reasonable request for her._

_So I groaned but, being the good friend that I am, I traipsed up the stairs to retrieve her curling iron. _

_I got into her bathroom and realized I had no clue which of the _fifty billion _hair doing devices was her curling iron. I narrowed them down to two and headed out of the room. _

_I ran into Fang in the hallway. _

_Literally ran into him. I slammed right into his hard chest and stumbled backwards. He caught me by my upper arms and I blushed._

"_Sorry." I whispered. He hadn't let go of my arms yet. I wanted to tell him right then. I wanted to break down and tell him how much I missed him and that I knew how stupid I was for not letting him explain and that at this point I don't care _what _was in his mind when he kissed Lissa, that I just wanted him back. _

_I opened my mouth to say all of that but the only thing that came out was a slight choking sound._

_Fang dropped his hands from my arms and I immediately felt a loss at the lack of familiar contact._

"_My fault." He said gruffly, stepping around me. Then he caught sight of what was in my hands. "She wants the pink one." He said, pointing to the pink cylindrical metal object verses the zebra print cylindrical metal object. _

"_How do you know?" I asked raising an eyebrow. How did a guy know which mijiggie was a curling iron. Weren't they supposed to be inept when it came to hair care product?_

"_I've lived with Nudge for a fair amount of my life." _

"_Oh, right." I said awkwardly. He stepped around me and headed for his room. "Fang—" I choked out._

_He turned around and raised an eyebrow at me. "Yeah?"_

_I worked my mouth, trying to say something, but nothing I wanted to say came out. So instead I said "Thanks,"_

_His eyebrows furrowed but he nodded. "Sure thing."_

_I let out a frustrated sigh and headed down the stairs with the pink curling iron. Things shouldn't be that frustrating between best friends. _

_It was then that I decided I'd have to do something drastic to eat my words._

_End Flashback_

Now, do I think Nudge sent me upstairs and Fang coming up after me was a coincidence? No, I'm not stupid. Do I wish it had gone better? Yes.

But I was going to make it better very soon.

"Hey Max!" Gazzy called to me as I came closer, my band close behind.

"Hey guys. I have some people I want you to meet." I introduced the band to the Flock. Ella and Nudge, looking very Christmas-y,**(A/N outfits on my profile!)** had plenty to talk to Shannon and Macy about and Gazzy and Iggy immediately clicked with Ryan and Mike. That just left Fang and Eli.

I could already tell that Fang hated Eli as much as he seemed to the first time around.

I didn't blame him.

"Hey guys I have some good news for you!" Mackie exclaimed. We all turned to him. "I meant the Flock." He clarified. The band ambled away so Mackie could talk to the Flock. I stayed put.

"What's up?" Iggy asked. Mackie pulled a CD out of his pocket and handed it over.

"This will hit stores near you the first of January." Mackie announced proudly. The Flock clamored over the CD in a montage of illegible words.

Finally the album was passed to me and I laughed.

"Hey Ig," I said. "Your antics will be known around the world. The picture of you being chased by that goose is on the back." And it was. The names of fourteen of their songs were listed in white on the back, molded around the image of Iggy wide eyed and running from the goose. On the front there was a picture of the Flock, each member jumping off the swings at the same moment. The cover read: **The Flock. **And underneath that: **You've gotta soar to survive.**

"OMG this is amazing! I never thought this day would come but here we are looking at our first album and it's going on sale soon! We're going to be famous and people everywhere will know our names and want to dress like us and—"

"NUDGE!" We all yelled at her. She snapped her mouth shut, her face reddening slightly.

"It's great, Mackie. Thanks." Ella said hugging him. Then it turned into a group hug that I somehow ended up in the middle of, Fang close by.

"Alright everybody who's not in a band I need you off stage! Everyone who's performing, get ready for sound check!" Ms. Galloway called clapping her hands together.

Mom, Mackie, and Chuck departed, finding a spot right in front of the stage while we headed off for sound checks.

**Well, what do you think? Review! Oh, and Fanfiction authors out there, have you been having trouble with your Traffic charts too? Or is it just my F***ed up computer? Let me know! Also (last note I promise!) I am officially back in school from winter break, BUT I will update every other day like always! Keep checking in! **

**Peace! **


	33. Chapter 33

**Hey Guys, I fixed my profile so you can now see the outfits from last chapter! And thanks for the awesome reviews! On the plus side: The traffic charts are working!**

**Let's see how far the great Maximum Ride will go to get Fang back….**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR. **

Chapter 33

"Good evening and welcome to the twenty-sixth annual Winter Festival!" Ms. Galloway called into the microphone, getting everyone in the rowdy crowd's attention. I saw a lot of familiar faces there, as well as some new faces that just screamed 'tourist'. It was a big crowd, I don't think raising money will be an issue this year. "Tonight we have three performances set up for you all that are by far better than other years. Tonight you will be hearing songs from Katy and Alice, the Flock, and Max Ride!"

There were cheers from the crowd. It took a minute for Ms. Galloway to be able to speak again.

"We are also lucky enough to get a preview of the Flocks new album, set to hit stores January First, as well as a new song they've been working on!" More cheers. "There will also be a new song preformed from none other than Max Ride herself!" More cheers. "Tonight will be a night to remember and I hope you all enjoy it and I thank you all for you donations tonight. We are working our way to a better community! Without further ado! Katy and Alice!"

The two girls, who preformed first, Katy and Alice, weren't too bad. They were a little rough around the edges but they had good lyrics and a sense of tempo which was good. They only played three songs before the Flock was on.

I gave everyone a word of encouragement backstage before they headed on to play the bulk of the performance.

Once they were on stage I made my way to my Mom in the front of the crowd which had grown substantially.

The Flock was amazing. I felt like I was in the concerts I'd attended before I started singing myself. Three Days Grace, Good Charlotte, Breaking Benjamin, they all solicited reactions from the crowd identical to that of the Flock.

Their set consisted of ten songs, enough for half an hour.

**(A/N I'm not listing all the lyrics because it would take up ten pages but check out these songs and let's pretend I wasn't too lazy to add them: I Wanna by The All American Rejects, Weightless by All Time Low, Seize the Day by Avenge Sevenfold, Up Against the Wall by Boys Like Girls, Secrets by One Republic, I Will Not Bow by Breaking Benjamin, If Everyone Cared by Nickelback, Breakdown by Plain White T's, Breakeven by The Script, and Light Up The Sky by Yellowcard.) **

By the time they started Breakdown I was headed back to the backstage. The rest of the band was there and I pulled my guitar strap over my head and waited.

The cheers the Flock got that the end of their set was enough for a standing ovation but we were on a schedule. They graciously accepted the cheers and thanked everyone else before introducing me.

They clamored backstage, huge smiles on their faces (except Fang, but his lips were twitching upwards).

"You guys were great!" I hugged them tightly as my band started moving their equipment onstage.

"Thanks!" Ella and Nudge squealed together as they hugged me back. "Your CD is going to fly off the shelves soon judging by the crowd's reaction." I assured them.

They went off chattering happily until Fang quietly spoke. "Your up Max." he gestured to the curtain. "Good luck."

They started heading off towards the crowd again.

I took a deep breath and headed out onto the stage.

Cheers assaulted my ears. I smiled and waved to the crowd, walking to the main mic.

I looked out at the crowd. I saw the Flock join Mom, Mackie and Chuck. Behind them, a few rows into the crowd stood Lissa, Lizzie, and Ari, all sneering at me. I wasn't going to let them get to me. Not now. Now it was time for me to make things right.

Nodding to my band we started our set.

**(Wondergirl by Hey Monday)**

_There I go, go at the speed of sound__  
__I'm higher than a satellite and you're stuck on the ground__  
__Your cries for help out soften me__  
__So don't expect to see, see me waiting here to be_

_Be your wonder girl, not gonna save you__  
__Wonder girl, go save yourself__  
__No way, won't go down in your flames__  
__Because wonder girl won't save your life__  
__ah oo, won't save your life__  
__ah oo, won't save your life_

_There you go, go looking for a fight__  
__I got a heart of steel, you can't cut and bleed me dry__  
__My secrets you can never keep__  
__So don't expect to see, see me waiting here to be_

_Be your wonder girl, not gonna save you__  
__Wonder girl, go save yourself__  
__No way, won't go down in your flames__  
__Because wonder girl won't save your life_

_I never thought it would end this way__  
__But I can't compete with these addictions that you've made__  
__Now every touch becomes the enemy, and I will never be_

_Be your wonder girl, don't say you love me__  
__Wonder girl, when you hate yourself__  
__No way, won't go down in your flames__  
__Because wonder girl won't save your life_

_Wonder girl, not gonna save you__  
__Wonder girl, go save yourself__  
__No way, won't go down in your flames__  
__Because wonder girl won't save your life__  
__Oh, won't save your life__  
__Oh, won't save your life, tonight_

My first four songs flew by and then I was faced with what I'd been waiting for/dreading for the past two days.

"Hi everyone," I said into my microphone, feeling my heart constrict in my chest. "My name is Max. I know you all already know some of my story by now. My mom and I moved to Navajo to try and have a semblance of a normal life. When I moved here I don't know what it was I was expecting. Maybe some people who I could hang out with and be normal around. I thought I'd never tell anyone about who I really was. Then I met some people who changed how I looked at life. I got more than friendship, I got an extended family. I got sisters and brothers and someone in particular who I could tell anything. He knew my secret before anyone else and he's just the best guy I could ask for. And I screwed things up. This song is about that person. Fang," I sighed, blushing as my heart slammed in my chest, as I made brief eye contact with him. His eyes were slightly wide, as were those of all my friends and family around him. Well I _was _admitting to my feelings and apologizing in the same breath. They probably thought the apocalypse was coming. "I'm sorry."

I looked away and softly strummed my guitar, then started singing.

**(Fall Into Me by Hey Monday)**

_I was looking through the chair__  
__You were looking through the mirror__  
__Never met eyes__  
__No, I've never seen clearer than now__  
__There's no way out_

_I'm tingling in places I didn't know existed__  
__How are things right and also twisted?__  
__How can we work this out?_

_Somehow everything in me is changing__  
__In the most amazing kind of way_

_Every single breath you take away__  
__Gives me more life than before__  
__We could be the perfect masterpiece__  
__Baby, bring me in__  
__And fall into me_

_Whenever you are near__  
__I feel like we could do anything__  
__And I think we should now__  
__We'll take the town_

_Your eyes tell me something__  
__Afraid to misread__  
__But if I'm wrong__  
__What if you mislead me?__  
__Still, it's worth the thrill_

_Somehow everything in me is aching__  
__Just to hear your gentle voice again_

_Every single breath you take away__  
__Gives me more life than before__  
__We could be the perfect masterpiece__  
__Baby, bring me in_

_Things aren't simple anymore__  
__Can't jump in until you know__  
__But I think that I just might__  
__Close my eyes and hold on tight_

_To every single breath__  
__To every single breath_

_Every single breath you take away__  
__Gives me more life than before__  
__We could be the perfect masterpiece__  
__Baby, bring me in_

_Every single breath you take away__  
__Gives me more life than before__  
__We could be the perfect masterpiece__  
__Baby, bring me in__  
__Bring me in and fall into me_

I looked at Fang as I sang the last words. He still had the same shocked expression on his face. I looked at the rest of the Flock. The girls were smiling at each other and Iggy and Gazzy were quietly talking and gesturing towards Fang. Angel was smiling at me while her parents squashed her in a hug. Mom was crying and Mackie was holding Chucks hand. One look at Mackie's eyes and I knew he knew that I had just sang the very song I'd yelled at him for reading on Thanksgiving.

The crowd was roaring and I looked up at them, smiling slightly and nodding. I said a quiet thank you before rushing off the stage, wondering the whole way: _what did Fang think?_

**Well? Huh, huh, huh? Some Reviews would be nice! I think I'm only going to write two more chapters! Review while you can! Check in Friday, I'll update then!**

**Peace!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Thank you for all the amazing reviews! You guys are awesome! **

**Disclaimer: You've been with me for 33 (now 34) chapters. Honestly I'm not lying. **_**I don't own MR!**_

Chapter 34

The worst part about finishing my diary entry of a song? I couldn't go talk to Fang right away. It would have been easier to just get it over with, to see what he thought about my confession. Instead I had to go wait in the crowd for the Flock to finish their last song before the tree lighting.

The suspense was tearing me apart.

I slipped into the crowd next to Mom and she immediately pulled me into a hug.

"Honey, that was so…so…beautiful." She sobbed. "I'm so proud of you."

"As am I." Mackie said, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder and smiling at me.

"Did he say anything?" I asked him quietly while Mom continued to cry.

"No," he seemed to regret saying it. "But Fang doesn't say much of anything. Especially emotional stuff. Besides he had to hurry back to the stage."

Excuses, excuses. Wasn't that what got me into this mess to begin with? I didn't want to hear Fang's excuses?

Oh well.

The Flock was coming back onto the stage. The cries from the crowd that had just calmed down from my performance were renewed in a montage of compliments for the Flock (as well as quiet a few people telling Fang to answer my apology).

As the Flock settled down to their instruments Fang looked at me and smiled slightly, making my heart jump in my chest.

"Here's our new song," he said quietly before they started playing.

Fang started strumming his guitar.

**(Here Without You by 3 Doors Down)**

_A hundred days have made me older, _

_Since the last time that I saw your pretty face,_

_A thousand lies have made me colder,_

_And I don't think I can look at this the same,_

_But all the miles that separate,_

_They disappear now when I'm dreaming of your face,_

_I'm here without you baby,_

_But you're still on my lonely mind_

_I think about you baby_

_And I dream about you all the time,_

_I'm here without you baby, _

_But you're still with me in my dreams,_

_And tonight, it's only you and me,_

_The miles just keep rolling_

_As the people either way to say hello_

_I've heard this live is overrated_

_But I hope that it gets better as we go, oh yeah_

_I'm here without you baby_

_But you're still on my lonely mind_

_I think about you baby_

_And I dream about you all the time_

_I'm here without you baby,_

_But you're still with me in my dreams_

_And tonight girl it's only you and me_

_Everything I know_

_And anywhere I go_

_It gets hard but it won't take away my love_

_And when the last one falls_

_And when it's all said and done_

_It gets hard but it won't take away my love, _

_woah woah _

_I'm here without you baby_

_But you're still on my lonely mind_

_I think about you baby_

_And I dream about you all the time_

_I'm here without you baby _

_But you're still with me in my dreams_

_And tonight girl it's only you and me_

I was making my way through the crowd before the song was even done. I had to get backstage.

I broke through the throng of swooning teenage girls and ran for backstage. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the tree light up as Fang played the final notes of his song. It was beautiful but I wasted no time to admire it.

I made it up the stairs just as Fang came off stage, leaving a tumult of screams behind him. I didn't take a moment to think about it, I just threw myself into his arms.

Feeling Fangs arms wrap around my waist was about the best feeling there was. I held on tight and buried my face in the crook of his neck, reveling in the little details: the way he smelt, the heat of his skin, the way his shaggy hair ticked my nose.

"I'm sorry," I gasped at last, pulling away from his embrace so I could look into his eyes. "I saw you with Lissa and I automatically assumed…well obviously I assumed you were cheating, I mean, you were acting so _weird _the entire week before, but that's stupid because I realized later that it was probably just Lissa and Lizzie's scheming but it still hurt because I was and still am completely in love with you and the thought that you weren't—" I broke off, I was getting off track. "The point is that people take things in different ways when they're in love with someone and it just _killed_ me. I'm _so_ sorry." My voice broke in the end and tears finally spilled from the corners of my eyes.

Fang pulled me back to him, holding me tightly and securely as he crushed his lips against mine.

I felt like swooning, it was a _very _good thing that he was holding me up because with his lips against mine after so long… it was heaven. His kiss was sweet and passionate.

_Loving._

Fang pulled away too soon but bent his head so his lips were at my ear.

"I love you too," he breathed. "I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to kiss her. She kissed me. I know its cliché but it's true."

"I believe you." And I did.

"I was trying to tell you that I loved you." He whispered.

I pulled away to look at his eyes. The eyes are the windows to the soul. And right now I was getting a full view of his soul. "What do you mean?"

He smirked slightly. His sardonic smirk that I loved so much. "I was trying to think of a way to tell you how much I loved you. That's why I was so 'weird' that week."

"Well damnit!" I exclaimed.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Well if either of us had just said it we wouldn't have had to go through this mess!" I said exasperatedly.

"Well duh!" that wasn't Fang. I looked over his shoulder to see the entire Flock waiting patiently for us to finish making up. Nudge was the one who spoke. "We could have told you that to begin with."

I stuck my tongue out at her and Fang chuckled, pulling me back into his warm embrace. One I was determined never to leave again.

**One more chapter people! Review while you still can! I'll update Sunday! **

**Peace!**


	35. Chapter 35

**And now for the final chapter in the story! **

**Disclaimer: James Patterson thank you for introducing Maximum Ride and her Flock into our lives.**

Chapter 35

Ms. Galloway broke through the curtains and into our reunion.

"Oh! Sorry!" she exclaimed, the flush in her face visible even in the moonlight. "I was wondering if you all had another song in you? The crowd is adamant."

I looked at Fang and he nodded, once again on the same page as me. "Hey guys," he turned to the Flock. "Remember that duet I showed you the music for?"

"Yes!" Iggy crowed pumping his hand in the air before running back onto the stage. Ella giggled and chased after him. Nudge and Gazzy shrugged and followed.

"I guess they remember." I said offhandedly while Fang wrapped his arms around my waist.

Just then Iggy's voice boomed over the speakers. "The fight is officially over, the lovebirds are back!"

"Iggy!" I groaned over the screaming and cheering of the crowd. Fang just chuckled in my ear.

"Well, that is Iggy for you," he muttered.

Ms. Galloway smiled and gestured for us to follow the Flock onto the stage.

I snatched my guitar from where it rested and headed onto the stage with Fang's hand held tightly in my own.

The Flock were already at their appointed instruments and waiting for us. An extra microphone was dragged out and placed beside the main one.

"Alright," I said into the microphone as I motioned for the crowd to settle down. "This is a song that Fang and I wrote a little while back. We hope you like it."

**(Good To You by Marianas Trench)**

_Every one's around_

_No words are coming out_

_And I can't find my breathe, can we just say the rest with no sound?_

_And none of this is enough_

_I still don't measure up_

_And I'm not prepared, sorry is never there when you need it_

_And now I do, want you to know I hold you up above everyone_

_And I do, want you to know I think you'd be good to me and I'd be so good to you_

_(I would)_

_I thought I saw the sign _

_Somewhere between the lines _

_Or maybe it's me, maybe I only see what I want_

_Well I still have your letter_

_Just got caught between someone I just invented _

_Who I really am _

_And who I've become_

_And now I do want you to know I hold you up above everyone_

_And I do want you to know I think you'd be good for me and I'd be so good to you_

_(Woah oh woah oh oh woah oh oh oh oh oh woah oh oh oh etc.) _

_Yeahahhhh, yeahhh_

_I, I, would._

_And I do want you to know I hold you up above everyone_

_And I do_

_Want you to know I think you'd be good to me_

_And I'd be so good to you _

_I'd be good to you _

_I'd be good to you _

_I'd be good to you _

_I'd be so good to you _

_I'd be good to you_

_I'd be good to you_

_I'd be good to you_

_I'd be so good to you _

I had a goofy smile on my face, I was fully aware of that, but I couldn't help it. Fang and I ended our song facing each other, separated by only our instruments. As the Flock slowly drifted to their end notes they came to join us where we stood at the edge of the stage.

We turned to face the crowd.

Mom was crying again and beaming at us, clapping with the rest of the crowd. When she saw me looking at her she mouthed 'I love you'. I smiled and mouthed 'I love you too'.

Mackie and Chuck were holding hands again and they smiled back at us as well. Angel was beaming at me and giving me two thumbs up. Further out in the crowd I saw Lissa, Lizzie, and Ari walking away from the stage. Their plans had failed. Fang and I were together again and nothing they'd ever come up with could rip us apart. They were no longer an issue in my life.

I looked out over the rest of Navajo, my new home. I saw people I cared about, people I wanted to get to know better, but most importantly: people who had accepted me.

I linked one hand with Fang and the other with Ella who stood on my left. The Flock linked hands and bowed.

Fang untangled our hands and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me to his side. "I love you," he whispered.

I smiled out at the crowd and whispered "I love you too."

This was just the beginning of our story, I knew there would be many more obstacles, triumphs, and drama to come. We were a group of musicians, and everyone knows that musicians have drama filled lives, but most importantly, we were a family.

And standing here with my boyfriend and my extended family, I knew that my life was everything I could have ever hoped for and more.

**Well my lovelies, this is the end of our story, I will post three more chapters but those are the alternate POV's. If you don't want to read them you really aren't missing anything. I'm just editing them and will post all three soon. I had a great time writing this it and I wanted to thank everyone who stuck with it and gave me song suggestions and critiqued my story. Keep tuned into my profile because I have a small idea for another story I'm going to try and write soon. Also, I'm trying my hand at being a beta reader if anyone wants to throw me a line! But for now…how about one last review for old time sake? Thanks for reading!**

**Peace!**


	36. Chapter 36 Alternate POV for 18

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR**

Chapter 18: Alternate POV's.

**Nudges POV**

"Alright, hey guys you all know who we are so I'm not going to bother talking. Here are some of our latest songs." Fang said. I rolled my eyes from where I sat behind the piano. Personally I think he could have embellished a little, maybe some talk about how hard he worked to write the songs and how hard we practice and how we appreciate their listening to us, and—

Iggy started playing.

We played through our allotted time to perform, about half an hour. Then Fang told the crowd we had one more song to play and looked directly at Max where she stood back in the crowd. I'd been watching her watch him all night. Those two were so in love and barely realized it! I was so proud of Ella and my work too! She looked stunning. Her brown, actually I'm going to call it mahogany, hair was half up and curled lightly to her shoulder blades. I still say she'd look good as a blond.

But it was her dress that caught attention! It was awesome. Blue, black, and sassy! Only Max could pull off that dress and everyone there knew it.

The song was one that Fang had written for Max. He would never admit it but it was practically screaming that he loved her. Ella and I thought it was beautiful. The guys thought it was sappy, but they didn't dare tell Fang that. He'd probably kill them.

We started playing.

**(You and Me by Lifehouse) **

_What day is it? And in what month?_

_This clock never seemed so alive_

_I can't keep up and I can't back down_

_I've been losing so much time_

_'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do_

_Nothing to lose_

_And it's you and me and all other people_

_And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you_

_I felt tears sting my eyes as I listened to Fang's beautiful voice sing this beautiful song. _

_One of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right_

_I'm tripping on words_

_You've got my head spinning_

_I don't know where to go from here_

_'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do_

_Nothing to prove_

_And it's you and me and all other people_

_And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you-_

I noticed that Lissa came up to Max and was quietly talking to her. Max was trying to blow her off but Lissa didn't get the hint and kept talking.

_'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do_

_Nothing to lose_

_And it's—_

Suddenly Lissa said something that made Max clench her hands in deadly fists. I watched as Max rolled her eyes and snapped back at Lissa. This song meant so much to Max and Fang and this little Pippy Long Stocking wannabe was ruining it. Oh if I got my hands on her….

_Nothing to prove_

_And it's you an—_

"Bitch!" the rest of Lissa's words were lost in the din from the crowd, slowly starting to circle the two girls, and the song.

Max turned to Lissa and said something, probably a witty retort that I had no idea how she could come up with but was fricken hilarious.

That's when Lissa slapped Max.

We stopped playing immediately, not caring that the song wasn't finished, and jumped off the stage, Fang in the lead.

There was a commotion and we broke through the crowd in time to see Max straddling Lissa and punch her in the face.

Damn, it was a good punch.

Fang rushed to her side as faculty members started to push through the crowd. He pulled Max off Lissa and restrained her, whispering something in her ear.

"No. She's….gonna…die!" Max shrieked. Lissa looked terrified where she lay on the floor. Ha, I bet she regrets messing with Max! Especially since her nose looked a little crooked under all that blood….

Fang whispered to Max again. Whatever it was Max calmed down and, after one last loathing look at Lissa (I now know where the saying 'if looks could kill' came from) and started heading through the crowd.

"Yeah Max, back down! We all know who would have really won this fight." Lissa said. Someone had helped her up and she was now standing in the center of the crowd (how she always liked it) smirking at Max. That girl really had no common sense if she was going to keep going….

Max's back stiffened but she kept walking, Fang had his hand placed gently on her back, propelling her forward. The rest of the Flock started to follow. We were almost out of the gym when Lissa's snide, and very annoying voice, broke through the crowd: "You're just a slut who steals other girl's boyfriends for a good ride."

I gaped at her. Ella gaped at her. The entire school gaped at her.

And Max…well I only blinked and Max was back in front of Lissa. That girl has some major speed…

"Don't you ever call me that again hoe or I will make your life a living hell." Max threatened, holding Lissa by the front of her whorish dress.

"You wouldn't." Lissa gulped. I didn't blame her, Max looked fierce. And at this moment, she was meaner than a rabid wolverine.

"Try me." She hissed and shoved Lissa.

Just as Max pushed the bitch away Lissa reached up and grabbed a fistful of Max's hair.

Oh that was low! I thought, pulling a girls hair! What a cheap shot! What a…

Max's hair, or should I say wig, came off as Lissa stumbled away.

I looked at Lissa (who was looking between the wig in her hands in shock and Max) and Max, who now stood wide eyed, staring at Lissa, with blond hair flowing down her back.

Max….Ride?

_Oh holy s—_

**Ella's POV**

Max's hair (wig?) came off in Lissa's hands. I looked at Max. Max had blond hair.

What? Wig? Why? Max? Blond? _Record deal?_

"Max Ride," I breathed.

**Gazzy's POV:**

Max has blond hair? Why was she wearing a wig? I thought only bald people wear wigs. Wait….now she looks a lot like Nudge's posters of…Max Ride…

Max….

_Oh…_

**Iggy's POV**

_WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? _

The blind kid misses everything….

**Lissa's POV**

I stared down at the wig in my hands. My nose still throbbed from that bitch punching me but suddenly that pain was shoved to the back of my mind as I looked at Max again.

Then the wig.

Then Max.

Not just Max.

_Max Ride._

_Oh….how do I get to be friends with the celebrity?_

"I-I-I-" I stuttered before her fist slammed into my face again.

"You bitch!" I heard her scream before it all went black.

**Fang's POV**

Cat's out of the bag. I looked at the Flock, who were all staring at Max with eyes the size of dinner plates (except Iggy, nobody's filled him in yet). Camera's started going off. People started screaming.

"You bitch!" Max screamed at Lissa punching her. Lissa went down again. Then Max pivoted, glancing at the Flock with sad, panicked eyes, before turning and running through the crowd (who parted like the Red Sea) and into the school parking lot.

By the time we made it to the parking lot Max was peeling out of there like a bat out of hell.

That's when everyone turned to me, questions in their eyes.

**Review!**

**Peace!**


	37. Chapter 37 Alternate POV for 28

**Now, how did Fang and Lissa really end up in a lip lock? I know I didn't explain it well in the story…well that's because I meant to alter the chapter before I posted it but, for lack of a better term, I forgot. So I'm making it up to you now. Hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own MR**

Chapter 28 alternate POV's.

**Fangs POV:**

Loving someone and vocalizing it are two completely different things. Especially when you are usually the stoic person in the relationship. Not that Max was emotional, unless you count a fiery attitude (which I loved), it's just that I wasn't a sap.

With all the crap that Lissa and Lizzie had been putting her through, and then watching her deal with it in finesse, well it made me realize just how strong my feelings for her were.

She made me laugh when nobody else could break through my barriers; she brought out the best in everyone; she was a great friend, a great role model, and the room seemed to glow when she entered it.

I was totally whipped.

I loved—once I was able to admit that was the feeling I was experiencing- her smile, the light that came into her eyes when she was antagonizing Iggy, the way she let Angel in, the small splatter of freckles across her nose, the way she looked at life, the way she looked at _me. _

I was in love with this amazing girl and I didn't know how to tell her.

I spent days trying find a way to tell her but most of her time was preoccupied with her rift with Lissa and Lizzie. I would catch myself spacing out in conversations and stare at her or randomly across the room. It wasn't normal for me, and I knew Max noticed my behavior if nobody else did. She didn't say anything though; she just tried to pass it off (for what I don't know) and act normal. I pushed her overboard, though. It was a stupid conversation but I pushed her too far with my aloofness.

"What do you think?" Max asked. It took me a second to realize that she was talking to me. I looked up from staring blankly at my hands folded in my lap.

"About what?" I asked quietly.

Max rolled her eyes in sync with Nudge and Ella, it was pretty well timed. Iggy just snickered.

"Well somebody wasn't paying attention now were they? I asked what you thought Lissa's next move would be?" Max said, giving me an incredulous look.

I shrugged and Max frowned slightly.

"Don't know. She'll surprise us." I said. It was true. I didn't know what crap they'd throw at us next but I knew it would be on a whole different level then we'd originally thought Lissa capable of. Don't ask me how I knew it because I didn't know. It was a gut feeling.

"Well that doesn't help. We already figured that out thank you very much." She said in a snide voice. I knew it was just her defense for confusion, but it still stung.

"Well then why did you ask me?" I matched her tone.

"I thought you may give it some thought but apparently not."

"Trouble in paradise." Iggy muttered.

"Shut up Ig!" we both said at the same time.

"Look, whatever they do, we'll just have to tough it out." Ella broke in, trying to save the situation. "It can't be anything you can't handle. Besides, you'll always have us."

…..

I spent the next few days after my spat with Max trying to come up with a way to apologize. After our fight I had to wonder what Max's feeling towards me were. Did she love me back? Was I just going to make a fool of myself by professing my love for her? Would she break up with me because the relationship was getting serious?

So many questions.

I didn't make it better by keeping my silence. I knew it was stupid but she'd understand soon enough.

The answer, no matter how simple, came to me on December first. It was after the final bell rang and I was going to my locker when I thought of the dance way back when. And our reveling conversation afterwards.

It was so simple. The park.

I decided then. I'd take her to the park where she'd ran after her secret got out. I decided I'd take her there and go to the swings where we'd spoken that night.

There I'd tell her that I love her.

I was going to do it. Today.

I'd just decided this when a very annoying, high pitched voice spoke from behind me. I hadn't realized that while I was planning tonight's events that the hallway had emptied.

"Hey Fang, what are you doing her alone?"

Lissa.

I managed not to groan out loud as I shut my locker and turned to face her.

She was dressed in some reveling top, too short of a skirt, and three inch heels.

Max never wore that kind of stuff. She'd look beautiful in grungy jeans and a hoodie. Lissa was aiming for hot but overshot it and hit skanky right on the mark.

"What do you want?" I asked in my ever docile tones.

She ignored my obvious annoyance with her and continued. "Well I was wondering if you'd heard the latest gossip on that…._girlfriend_, of yours." She said girlfriend like it was a dirty word.

"No but I'm sure she hasn't either. I'm sure nobody but you has." I snapped.

"Well, that hurt Fang." She put her hand over her heart like I'd stung her. Or at least she tried. Someone should tell her that the heart isn't on the right side of your chest. Doesn't she do the Pledge of Allegiance every day? I sighed internally and let her continue. "I just heard that—"

There was a loud squeak somewhere down the hall and Lissa jumped in fright, tripping over her heels and falling forward.

I was sorely tempted to step aside and let her fall into the lockers, but instead I braced myself against the locker and caught her as she fell, wrapping my arms around her for support.

"Oh, sorry," she gave an annoying giggle.

"Yeah, no proble—"

She cut me off by attacking my mouth.

And by attacking my mouth, I mean forcefully shoving her tongue down my throat.

I made a noise of protest but her arms locked around my neck, hands in my hair, holding my face to hers.

Damn this bitch is stronger than she looks.

I was putting my hands on her hips to push her away when I heard it.

So faint I could have missed it if the school wasn't absolutely silent.

"I hate you,"

I finally succeeded in pushing Lissa away and looked up to see Max standing at the corner of the hallway. Her face told me I was in a world of trouble.

"Max," I gasped but she'd already fled towards the school's exit

"Oops," Lissa giggled as I ran past her and followed Max, calling for her to wait. To let me explain.

She ran faster. I heard Ella call out after her as she passed. I ran around the corner to see Max run past the Flock and out the schools exit. She jumped the stairs and tore off across the lawn.

"Fang what going on?" Ella called after me as I rushed past them. I heard them start to follow me but I didn't answer. I needed to get to Max. The look on her face just before she ran….

Oh I screwed up.

Well no, I didn't screw up. Lissa screwed us over.

I kept calling for her to stop, the Flock joining in my calls. Max didn't slow down. I was catching up to her in a ground eating sprint._ Faster, Fang, faster! _I yelled at myself.

Two more feet…one foot….I grabbed her shoulder and pulled us to a halt.

"Max, you don't understand…" I managed to gasp out. She yanked out of my grip and started walking away. "Please, you have to listen to me—" I called after her.

"No you listen to me Nicholas Walker!" She shrieked, her voice shrill and slightly hysterical. I blinked. It wasn't her voice that shocked me; it was her using my real name. She hadn't called me Nick since that first day at lunch. She'd fallen into using my nick name quickly and never looked back. Using my real name told me just how hurt she was. "I trusted you! Do you know how hard that is for me to do?" I opened my mouth to answer but she cut me off. "Of course you know! Because I told you everything about me! I trusted you and you took that trust and just threw it in my face." Her voice broke and tears leaked down her face. "Just do us all a favor and stay away from me."

She turned her back on me, leaving me stunned and drowning in my own misery.

…..

Lissa's POV

"Well, that went well," Lizzie said joining me as I walked swiftly after Fang, towards the school's exit. I smirked at her and licked my lips, still savoring Fang's amazing taste on my lips.

"Yeah, it did. Your timing was perfect." That squeak really had scared me, I hadn't faked that jump. But that trip…._please!_ I've been wearing heels like this since I could toddle; there was no way I'd trip in them. Of course, Fang was to gallant to let a girl just fall into lockers.

He really did make it too easy.

And the look on Max's face….

Priceless.

"This tops everything else we've done." I told Lizzie as we reached the schools doors and watched Max yell at Fang while their stupid posse stood watching.

I pulled out my camera and zoomed in on the 'happy' couple as Max yelled at him. I snapped a few quick shots and smiled at my partner in crime.

"Do you still have that sources address?" I asked her as a distraught Max stormed off the campus, leaving a stunned Fang in her wake.

**Sorry I forgot to add the explanation in the actual story! Read and Review!**

**Peace! **


	38. Chapter 38 Alternate POV for 33

**Last post guys!**

Chapter 33 Alternate POVs

**Disclaimer: I don't own Maximum Ride**

**Fangs POV**

The Flock and I joined Mackie in the crowd as Max walked onto the stage. The crowd roared for her. She smiled politely and nodded her head, waving in acknowledgement before taking the mic at center stage.

She looked amazing. The sun was starting to go down behind the stage's curtains, surrounding the entire stage in a golden glow while still allowing us to see the people on the stage. Max herself was dressed in simple black and white, dressed more for comfort than style, something I loved about her.

She nodded to her band and they started playing.

The first four songs went by quickly, they were song's we'd all heard before but were still amazing to hear her sing live.

The last song was going to be her new song. Everyone was on their toes, eager to hear what next work of art Max Ride had come up with. We expected her to launch right into the song like she'd done with the rest of her set, instead, she stopped and looked out at the crowd.

"Hi everyone," she said into my microphone. She looked nervous, something I didn't think possible for someone who spent so much time on stage. "My name is Max. I know you all already know some of my story by now. My mom and I moved to Navajo to try and have a semblance of a normal life. When I moved here I don't know what it was I was expecting. Maybe some people who I could hang out with and be normal around. I thought I'd never tell anyone about who I really was. Then I met some people who changed how I looked at life." The Flock beamed when they were mentioned. I just kept staring at Max, that wasn't what she was nervous about.

She continued. "I got more than friendship, I got an extended family. I got sisters and brothers and someone in particular who I could tell anything. He knew my secret before anyone else and he's just the best guy I could ask for. And I screwed things up." I blinked. Had I heard right? Had Max just admitted that _she _had screwed up? What had she screwed up? It was all my, well Lissa's, fault. The Flock, Mackie, Chuck, and Ms. Martinez were now turning their heads back and forth to watch my reaction and Max's speech.

I was listening to Max in rapture. "This song is about that person. Fang," She sighed and blushing as she finally looked at me. I knew I was staring wide eyed at her. Well, I wasn't the only one. She _was _apologizing.

Maybe the world was ending. "I'm sorry." She whispered. Then she looked away and started to sing.

**(Fall Into Me by Hey Monday)**

_I was looking through the chair_

_You were looking through the mirror_

_Never met eyes_

_No, I've never seen clearer than now_

_There's no way out_

_I'm tingling in places I didn't know existed_

_How are things right and also twisted?_

_How can we work this out?_

_Somehow everything in me is changing_

_In the most amazing kind of way_

_Every single breath you take away_

_Gives me more life than before_

_We could be the perfect masterpiece_

_Baby, bring me in_

_And fall into me_

_Whenever you are near_

_I feel like we could do anything_

_And I think we should now_

_We'll take the town_

_Your eyes tell me something_

_Afraid to misread_

_But if I'm wrong_

_What if you mislead me?_

_Still, it's worth the thrill_

_Somehow everything in me is aching_

_Just to hear your gentle voice again_

_Every single breath you take away_

_Gives me more life than before_

_We could be the perfect masterpiece_

_Baby, bring me in_

_Things aren't simple anymore_

_Can't jump in until you know_

_But I think that I just might_

_Close my eyes and hold on tight_

_To every single breath_

_To every single breath_

_Every single breath you take away_

_Gives me more life than before_

_We could be the perfect masterpiece_

_Baby, bring me in_

_Every single breath you take away_

_Gives me more life than before_

_We could be the perfect masterpiece_

_Baby, bring me in_

_Bring me in and fall into me _

She made eye contact with me as she finished the song. I was still wide eyed and gaping at her.

I should have never doubted how she felt for me. That song described our relationship, our ability to communicate without words, perfectly. I heard Gazzy and Iggy talking and I heard Max's mom crying. I don't know what the others were doing because I couldn't take my eyes off of Max.

The crowd roared around me as they fell in love with Max's new song. I'm positive I loved that song more than anyone else here. My heart was thumping loudly in my chest.

Well, at least I knew she'd like the song I was going to sing next. Suddenly I couldn't wait to get up onto the stage and basically profess my love for her.

Max waved to the crowd before rushing back behind stage.

Well, she'd apologized (no matter how needless it had been, it was still amazing to hear how she felt about me).

Now it was my turn.

**This was originally going to be chapter 34 but I didn't like how it flowed with the entire story so I took it out. This is the last alternate POV chapter I have for you guys so this is officially the last post for this story. **** I'm going to miss you guys but thank you **_**so much **_**for reading and reviewing! You guys have made me really want to pursue writing. Keep in touch with my profile! I'm going to try and write a new story soon!**

**I love you all!**

**Peace! **


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